Fort V

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Fort V is a project situated in a former military building that lays within the park Fort 5 in Edegem, Belgium. The project is used as a learning center for children in the region. It has the purpose to strengthen knowledge about nature and ecology. The building materials are carefully chosen in aspects of circularity with mainly two different techniques used. Those are a tructure made of earth from nearby the site compressed into blocks and hempcrete that works both as an insulation facade and a roof. The old technique of building with earth itself can last for centuries under the right conditions. Another particularity is the possibility to reuse the earth, since the mass can be compressed into new blocks repeatedly. Hempcrete is also an interesting material which is becoming more frequently used, with two main benefits. The first benefit is that it requires less concrete, the second one is that growing hemp has a negative CO2 effect. Fort V is a project that focuses on using circular materials in an innovative way.