The Vlaams Bouwmeester team has organised a competition for a number of Look out towers within the Horizon 2025 project. From the 50 submissions, three teams were subsequently selected to elaborate on their vision for the Ichtegem Look out tower.

In collaboration with Workshop Architects, we were selected for the Look out tower at Ichtegem, a former Pump tower that served the steam trains travelling towards Oostende. The Look out tower is a unique building in an exemplary landscape, with a unique connection between architecture and landscape. The Pump tower is potentially a landmark and orientation point along the former railway line 62 in West Flanders. Unlike other observation towers in Belgium, and within the context of Horizon 2025, the Pump tower is unique in that it is a small intervention that serves an expansive area. A story about the connection on a small and large scale and about being part of a larger whole.

The original Pump tower has been out of use since 1986. With the transformation into a Look out tower, preservation of the story, identity and elegance are paramount – as a destination on the G62 recreational cycle route and the final piece of the park strip.

Salt and Fresh
Architecture and landscape come together at the Pump tower in Eernegem. In the 19th century a railway line was built between Torhout and Oostende. The steam locomotives could not run on salt and harder water that was found in the vicinity of Oostende, so a better alternative was sought. The water around Eernegem is fresh, very low mineral content and therefore much more suitable for use for the locomotives. As a result of this discovery, the reservoir was dug around 1870 and the Pump Tower was built. The water was transported from Eernegem to Oostende via a 16-kilometer pipeline.

The story between architecture and landscape is translated into a design for the future use of the Pump tower as a Look out tower. On the one hand, the tower remains intact and the structure retains its identity, on the other hand, a contemporary intervention will be created as it becomes a new Look out tower. Still connected to its past but with a new use, looking out to the coast that it once served. Access to the tower will be strengthened, as will the connection between the reservoir and the Pump tower. The story of the history, the landscape and the water is told in a subtle graphic way without affecting the architecture of the Pump Tower.