Lou Jansen and Luc Hendrickx met each other on the train to Sint-Lucas. After completing his studies in interior architecture, Hendrickx had taken over his parents’ furniture store in Turnhout, on Patersstraat, and had started a new branch ‘for modern interior design’ on Gasthuisstraat. In the late 1950s, along with Jan Van der Voort in Mol, he was the pioneer of modern interior design in the Kempen region. Jansen maintained good relations with Hendrickx and accompanied him several times to the furniture fair in Milan. In 1967, Hendrickx decided to ex novobuild a new showroom, in the middle of fields along the road to Kasterlee. It would be equipped with ample parking space and would be easily accessible from the planned highway. The sphere of influence of Hendrickx and Van der Voort extended beyond national borders.
The optimal possibilities for arranging furniture into ensembles and the span of the concrete Ergon beams led to a subdivision of the plan into six bays with a width of 10 m, all parallel to the street. The first is filled at level –½, the second at levels –½ and +½, and the third and subsequent ones at levels 0 and 1. The two rear bays were originally reserved for the warehouse on the ground floor. To fit the shape of the plot, the bays are staggered: they shift 5 m each time, the distance between the columns. The hall is located in the third bay and is reached through a narrowing outdoor space between parts of the showroom. All front and rear facades are in glass, and all side facades are constructed in concrete blocks. In the building permit application, there were fewer mezzanine floors, and the upper floor was only accessible via a wide staircase. During construction, this was replaced by three inclined planes to allow access everywhere with a stroller. Initially, the tower at the front right of the plot served exclusively for the furniture store’s logo. Cars drove underneath it to the parking area. Behind the tower is a square block with a showroom below and above it the terrace of the residence, which is located in the rear block on the first and second floors. A low building was added in front of the tower. Both parts underwent functional changes over the years. Luc Hendrickx died in 1973, and in 1985 the business was sold to Victor and Frans Vermeeren, who renamed it Master.
‘Architecture in the Golden Sixties – The Turnhout School, Lannoo Campus, 2012’.
