FORM / STUDIO

03 / 12Ghent, BelgiumCommercial2025

Atelier N

An oak meeting table and chairs behind a slender oak-framed glass screen in a cream room.

A photographer’s production studio in a former print hall. The brief was mostly a list of what must not change: the height, the north light and the empty floor.

Location
Ghent, Belgium
Year
2025
Project type
Commercial
Status
Completed
Surface area
254 m²
Scope
Interior architecture, joinery, lighting
Lighting
Bureau L. (fictional)

Fictional project. Photographs are illustrative stock and do not show a building by FORM Studio.

Existing structure

The hall is eleven metres wide with a steel frame and large north-facing windows on one long side. Previous tenants had added partitions, a suspended ceiling and a mezzanine. All of it came out. What remained was the shell the printers had worked in, repainted once, in one white.

A vast, empty cream studio whose floor curves up seamlessly into the wall.
Fig. 1 Shooting hall. The floor runs into the wall through a continuous cove.
A blurred figure walking beside a tall black column stand in a white studio.
Fig. 2 A column stand set up mid-hall.
A curved oak-framed glass room containing a long table, seen in warm light.
Fig. 3 Meeting room. An oak frame carries single-glazed panels floor to soffit.

Response

Everything the studio needs and does not want in frame is gathered along one short side: a glazed meeting room, a kitchen and a prop store, with an archive gallery above. The rest of the plan stays empty. A sliding curtain track lets the glass room go dark for reviews without blocking the daylight.

D01Ground floorPlanIllustrative drawing
Ground floor: illustrative floor planIllustrative plan of about 18.00 by 12.00 metres containing Shooting hall, Meeting room, Kitchen, Prop store, Washroom. The numbered key beside the drawing lists each room.1234511.003.503.5018.005.203.603.20AAN05 m
  1. 1Shooting hall129.3 m²
  2. 2Meeting room35.0 m²
  3. 3Kitchen23.9 m²
  4. 4Prop store10.4 m²
  5. 5Washroom10.4 m²
D03Inserted volumeAxonometricIllustrative drawing
Inserted volume: illustrative axonometricAxonometric of the retained hall in grey, with the new oak-framed meeting volume and kitchen inserted along one side.
A person moving through a very large white studio past a tall camera stand.
Fig. 4 Moving a set: a clear route from the loading door to the cove.
An oak kitchen wall with shelves beneath a band of small high panels in a tall white room.
Fig. 5 Kitchen wall. The high panels hide the ductwork and open onto the gallery.
D02Section A–ASectionIllustrative drawing
Section A–A: illustrative sectionIllustrative section cut through the building, 5.2 metres to the highest point, with the retained structure shown in grey.Shooting hallMeeting roomArchive gallery+0.00+2.70+5.2005 m■ Retained ■ New
A wide cream room with an oak kitchen, a low sofa and steel-framed windows.
Fig. 6 Client area at the far end of the hall.

Material schedule

  1. M01

    Oak frame

    Meeting room screen

    Slender sections, solid throughout, joined rather than fixed so the frame can be taken apart.

  2. M02

    Oak veneer

    Kitchen wall, storage

    Book-matched across the whole wall so it reads as one surface from the far end of the hall.

  3. M03

    Travertine

    Kitchen worktop, reception shelf

    Unfilled and honed. The one warm, irregular surface in a room kept neutral for colour work.