Sculptural and kinetic. Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects
12/07/2021.
[Antwerp] Belgium
metalocus, GONZALO GARCÍA MORENO
metalocus, GONZALO GARCÍA MORENO
The architecture studio Xaveer De Geyter Architects, with offices in Paris and Brussels, has been in charge of designing the new building in the downtown area of the city of Antwerp that will house the public administrative offices of the province of the same name.
Inside, the new building houses offices, conference rooms, and even a library and stands as a compact and sculptural volume dividing a public garden that is also part of the project and that transforms a previously private area into a large green area.
Inside, the new building houses offices, conference rooms, and even a library and stands as a compact and sculptural volume dividing a public garden that is also part of the project and that transforms a previously private area into a large green area.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Photograph by Maxime Delvaux.
Site plan. Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects.
Ground floor plan. Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects.
Project floor plans. Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects.
Longitudinal section. Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects.
Cross section. Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects.
Program diagram. Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp by Xaveer De Geyter Architects.
The new Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp designed by Xaveer De Geyter Architects is structured in a rectangular floor plan oriented from east to west that, as it rises, twists on itself creating a kinetic volume that houses the office area and a semi-public library. This large volume at the same time passes over a prismatic glass block oriented from north to south that houses the congress and exhibition areas.
The building has a couple of trusses integrated into the concrete side walls and whose triangulation defines the form of the window openings, which are very efficient in their objective of achieving an ideal balance between the entry of daylight and solar overheating. In addition, the torsion of the building as it rises is not a random decision since it reduces the shadow that it casts on the buildings around it.
The building has a couple of trusses integrated into the concrete side walls and whose triangulation defines the form of the window openings, which are very efficient in their objective of achieving an ideal balance between the entry of daylight and solar overheating. In addition, the torsion of the building as it rises is not a random decision since it reduces the shadow that it casts on the buildings around it.
Description of project by Xaveer De Geyter Architects
The new building replaces a complex of modernist building volumes that used to occupy the entire site and that could not be adapted to today’s sustainability standards. As the Antwerp city centre has few public green surfaces, the transformation of the site from a merely private, mineral and infrastructural area into a public garden is a crucial requirement of the competition brief. Surrounded by fragments of public green, the parcel is key to the formation of a larger, coherent park. Another – contradictory - demand was to maintain a more recent representational pavillion, which was positioned as an obstacle in between the fragments.
By situating the full program in a compact volume across the pavilion, this frontage is cut up and the main entrance is brought close to the street. This large volume, however, divides the park in a front and a back garden. Finally, by rotating the plan around one of its corners as it climbs up, the building shifts towards the centre; existing neighbouring buildings are respected and a sculptural form emerges. During the design process the pavillion building is at last replaced by a glazed volume to house the congress and exhibition part of the programme.
The building is conceived as a bridge structure over and across the pavillion. At the center of the plan one large steel truss spans from one core to the other. Two more trusses are integrated in the concrete side walls and their triangulation defines the form of the window openings. In a next step this window form is applied all over the building as it turns out to be very efficient when it comes to an ideal balance between daylight access and overheating by the sun. The opaque façade is clad in circular, white glass mosaic while the pavilion is a fully transparent box in the park.
More information
Architects
Project team
Competition.- Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Christophe Antipas, Lieven De Boeck, Yannis Igodt, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Federico Pedrini, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte. Definitive design.- Xaveer De Geyter, Yannis Igodt, with Doug Allard, David Ampe, Tom Bonnevalle, Karel Bruyland, Elena Caruso, Joris De Greef, Denisse Florea, Arie Gruijters, Annelotte Herrebosch, Willem Van Besien, Peter Vande Maele, Yannick Vergnaud, Stéphanie Willocx. Implementation.- Xaveer De Geyter, Tom Bonnevalle, Yannis Igodt, with Joris De Greef, Arie Gruijters, Annelotte Herrebosch.
Collaborators
Structure.- Bollinger+Grohmann. Techniques.- Boydens. Landscape.- Michel Desvigne Paysagiste. Competition phase - Energy.- Transsolar.
Client
Province of Antwerp.
Area
Surface plot.- 28,250 sqm. Surface.- 33,000 sqm.
Budget
€ 60,700,000.
Dates
December 2013 - September 2019.
Location
Koningin Elisabethlei 22 2018 Antwerp, Belgium.
Photography
Xaveer De Geyter. Xaveer De Geyter Architects
Xaveer De Geyter Architects is a Brussels/Paris - based office practising architecture, urbanism and landscape design founded in 1988 by Xaveer De Geyter (1957) after his experience as project architect for OMA/Rem Koolhaas.
During the thirty years of its existence, XDGA has managed to build up a significant portfolio and obtain worldwide recognition thanks to its unique approach, diversified expertise and international team (54 collaborators from 11 countries).
XDGA counts to this day five monographs, numerous awards (Mies Van der Rohe Award, Bigmat Award, Flemish Culture Award for Architecture) and three travelling solo exhibitions.
XDGA’s most relevant realised projects include, amongst others: the Subway Station and Public Square Place Rogier in Brussels (2015), the new Headquarters for the Province of Antwerp (2019) and the Multipurpose School Building in Ghent (2020).
Ongoing projects comprise: the extension of the Fine Arts Mueum of Tournai, the development of Three City Blocks and a Mixed-use Building in Brussels.
During the thirty years of its existence, XDGA has managed to build up a significant portfolio and obtain worldwide recognition thanks to its unique approach, diversified expertise and international team (54 collaborators from 11 countries).
XDGA counts to this day five monographs, numerous awards (Mies Van der Rohe Award, Bigmat Award, Flemish Culture Award for Architecture) and three travelling solo exhibitions.
XDGA’s most relevant realised projects include, amongst others: the Subway Station and Public Square Place Rogier in Brussels (2015), the new Headquarters for the Province of Antwerp (2019) and the Multipurpose School Building in Ghent (2020).
Ongoing projects comprise: the extension of the Fine Arts Mueum of Tournai, the development of Three City Blocks and a Mixed-use Building in Brussels.
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