Sometimes, as architects, an unexpected opportunity presents itself. We already considered the renovation of Tilburg railway station and the design of the new bus station to be compelling assignments. At a late stage, an additional and highly specific question emerged: how to securely and precisely mount an almost eighty-metre-long historic concrete mosaic onto the station wall. Last Friday, the artwork was officially unveiled.
concrete relief with shard mosaic
The work is officially titled ‘concrete relief with shard mosaic’. Artist Jan Dijker created it in 1967 for the façade of the former Katholieke Academie voor Lichamelijke Opvoeding (KALO) in Tilburg. It consisted of twelve concrete relief panels, combined with sgrafitto applied directly to the wall. When the school building was demolished in 2005, the sgrafitto disappeared along with the structure. The concrete panels, however, were preserved. They remained in municipal storage for fifteen years and were carefully restored once the new location was determined.