Welcome to Rösli – a unique life project by a Swiss-Belgian couple, ongoing since 2017. You wouldn't think so, but they met neither in Switzerland nor in Belgium, but in Egypt. A few years ago, they got married in Brussels.
Passionate about timeless design and genuine hospitality, they settled in Vilvoorde in 2002.
welcome on the rösli
a ship like no other...
What is the Rösli?
After having been transformed for about 2,5 years into a secured, multifunctional and neat ship that has kept the charm of the past, we are pleased to announce that Rösli is operational to host conferences, meetings, exhibitions, shows, pop-up projects, and so much more… on the water.
Where is the Rösli?
As Rösli is 55 m long, you cannot miss the ship. It is in front of an original location in Vilvoorde that reflects both the industrial past of the city and the urban culture of today, namely the Kruitfabriek.
Since the work on the canal, we have moved to between the Salangaan Bridge and the Vilvoorde viaduct.
What does Rösli mean?
Rösli is in Swiss German and means “little rose”. For your convenience, we have decided to drop the umlaut (sign on the o) for the name of the website. We heard that it’ll be easier to find us on the web… And this is how to pronounce Rösli: Rε:sli (the ö is like the i from bird).
HISTORY of the Rösli
or how the ship eventually ended up in Vilvoorde...
Here it is… We are very happy and proud to present our project: she was born in 1929, is 55 m long and her name is RÖSLI. We prefer to say “she & her” because we consider her as an old lady who deserves our respect.
This picture was taken in August 2018 between Vilvoorde and Brussels when we left the shipyard in Boom after having finished the main transformation works: a terrace on 3 levels and stairs to reach the main room in the ship’s hold.
Since then we went back to Boom one more time to install a roof made of recovery material (cover parts of the hold) and an entrance door between terrace and apartment.
How it all began… (if you’re curious to know a bit more about the ship’s history & our story).
Several years ago, we were looking for a “smaller” ship, but none fitted into our budget or corresponded to our needs.
After having visited the first Kempenaar (much longer than what we wanted), we immediately knew that this kind might have a huge potential…
The next day we found “Cindy”, based close to Antwerp, and we made an appointment with Captain Charel & Marie-Louise, the owners…
A few visits later, convinced that this is the ONE we need, we bought the ship and renamed it RÖSLI. Can you imagine that we had a list with almost 60 names?
The day we got the key from former Captain Charel and Marie Louise… It took us some months to realize that we are the owners now! The project is huge and exciting, and we knew that we are going to face challenges.
Seen the huge dimension of the ship and more specifically its hold, our previous plans changed: we are going to share it with other people by transforming the former barge that transported different materials from 1929 till the end of 2016 into an event ship!!! Simply crazy…
evolution of the rösli
from barge to event ship...
Rösli’s first journey happened on March 31st, 2018, starting in Wijnegem at 7.15 AM and arriving in Boom at 4.45 PM, the shipyard for the 5-yearly technical control and for Rösli’s first major transformations.
Thank you for the safe trip, Captain Charel !
Cleaning & control of the hull…
We still cannot realize the size of the ship, certainly not after seeing
Rösli on dry dock !
The evolution of the transformation was impressive. As our home is not that far from the shipyard, we spent many days and some nights there to take part in the progress of the installation of the terrace on 3 levels, with 2 of them covered by a recycled roof. And of course the stairs between those levels to get access to the hold that is going to be transformed little by little into an event location.
In total, we went 3 times to Boom. We definitely left the shipyard in November 2018 heading for Vilvoorde where we have found a very nice place to settle for a while…
Our next visit to the shipyard will be in 2023 for technical control (mandatory every 5 years).
Thank you guys from Marintec !
From hold to event room
Rösli in Vilvoorde at the Steenkaai
In November 2018,
Rösli moved to Vilvoorde, not far from the Kruitfabriek, a cultural location as vintage as our ship. We couldn’t find a better place to settle for a while not only because of the perfect match, but also because we are big fans of the concept.
On May 3rd 2020, we should have presented Rösli to you during the famous "Waterfeesten".
But the Covid-19 came in-between…
We would be glad to see you on board and present the different rental possibilities: if you wish to celebrate a special event, or if you need an original place for a film or a photo shoot, if you are looking for a quiet space for a conference, or a nice meeting room, or enough space for a pop-up project, and so on…
There are many options and we look forward to revealing them to you.
There is still work in the pipeline, but we are proud of what has already happened, such as the environmentally friendly aspect of the Rösli and its independence from external energy supplies (see next chapter for more information).
the rösli & the environment
what do we use for energy saving and environmental management
The rainwater is filtered 4 times and treated a fifth time with Uv rays. The electricity is generated via solar panels.
Thanks to the use of recycled material, we got a roof for the small terrace. We also made nice cocktail tables with some oil barrels. The bar is made from wrapping material for truck windows.
Below are some pictures of the preparations.