Development concept for the village with reconnection of its historic urban fabric
| Location | Kumtich, Tienen, Belgium |
| Year | 2024 |
| Status | Closed competition |
| Client | Stad Tienen |
| Program | General strategy for Kumtich with an emphasis on revitalisation of the village centre |
| Area | 12 km2 |
| Team | Jola Starzak, Dawid Strębicki, Enrico Armentani, Mikołaj Betka |
| In collaboration with |
Kumtich is a village located between Leuven and Tienen, among picturesque orchards and grasslands. Over the course of time, the integrity of the village as well as its relationship with the surrounding landscape started to weaken - largely because of construction of railways and a national road around Kumtich. Therefore, an important goal in our design is to recover the unity of the village, including reconnection of its valuable historic urban fabric.
We notice St Gillisplein, a centrally located square, as a possible heart of the village. Placed near the church, former town hall, historic houses and small cafés, it has spatial potential that is currently not very noticable or used. The church does not host Sunday celebrations anymore and the village center is in urgent need of renovation. Therefore, we suggest to make the church available as a local meeting center and use it more polyvalently without deconsecrating it. We also want to strenghten the connections in this area by designing sitting stairs on the sloped terrain of the square to connect the height differences here smoothly and elegantly. Such solutions can bring life back to the center of Kumtich, making it more lively and inviting.
Another important goal is making the village more friendly and human-scaled with a network of cycle and pedestrian pathways. The motorized traffic in the center of the village will be limited for the benefit of pedestrians and cyclists. The planned new cycle highway along the railway offers an oppurtunity to define a new, green edge to the village. Connecting it to St Gillisplein will improve the accesibility of the village to its residents as well as new visitors.
