As cities grow and evolve, the question of preserving, rehabilitating, or adapting historic sites arises. The intervention in such buildings requires a delicate balance between honoring their heritage and meeting contemporary demands. Often, the most innovative and radical solutions emerge when architects attempt to renew a building while maintaining its original footprint and as many features as possible. They then create modern extensions that either harmonize or contrast with the original structure. This approach not only revitalizes the building but also celebrates the synergy between the past and present, including materials, construction technology, architectural movements, stories, and overall building quality. The layering of both old and new elements through harmony or contrast requires an intelligent and sensitive approach that gives the building a unique aesthetic and a new meaning.
Antwerp: The Latest Architecture and News
Technical Campus Blue Gate / POLO
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Architects: POLO
- Area: 10717 m²
- Year: 2023
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Manufacturers: Reynaers Aluminium, Aluform, De Coene, Janssen, MBI, +2
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Professionals: Macobo, De Fonseca, EVEKA, Antea Belgium
District Office Police / Bovenbouw
Antwerp Historic Courthouse / HUB
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Architects: HUB
- Area: 23000 m²
- Year: 2022
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Professionals: ney engineering
Mercurius House / Studio Contekst
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Architects: Studio Contekst
- Year: 2023
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Manufacturers: Aspet , Marset, Pitt Cooking, Siemens, Zucchetti
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Professionals: Smart Interior
Terraced House in Deurne / POLYGOON Architectuur
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Architects: POLYGOON Architectuur
- Area: 245 m²
- Year: 2020
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Manufacturers: Hansgrohe, Reynaers Aluminium, Vectorworks, Duravit, FSB Franz Schneider Brakel, +9
“Each Project Is Like a Small City to Me” in Conversation With Glenn Sestig
Whether an apartment building, house, storefront, office interior, or restaurant, Glenn Sestig’s architecture consistently reveals itself in tidy fragments of robust and determinately monumental geometry that tends to evoke urban qualities. His austere facades, colonnades, stair landings, and even reception desks and shelf displays appear to be quite hefty and substantial. And, in fact, every project, be it a small boutique or gallery, starts with rigorous planning – visual primary and secondary axes get established, circulation flow is laid out, and major anchors are identified before the architect moves on to addressing the appropriate materials, surfaces, and details. Every space is architecture first; its program and appearance will fit into it.
Studio Libeskind Transforms Antwerp Art Deco Tower into a New Cultural Center
Architect Daniel Libeskind has revealed plans to transform the Boerentoren tower, located in the center of Antwerp, Belgium, into a new public cultural center. The Art Deco tower will be extended to house exhibition spaces, a panoramic viewing platform, a rooftop sculpture garden, and new restaurants and bars. According to the architect, the original features of the historical building will be preserved, while its landmark status will be enhanced through this intervention. If the plans are approved by the Flemish master builder, heritage and urban planning authorities, and the fire service, the building is due to open in 2028.
Construction Works Begin on Shigeru Ban's Hybrid Residential Tower in Belgium
Shigeru Ban has just launched the office’s most recent project in Nieuw Zuid in Antwerp, Belgium. Named Ban, after its creator, and in collaboration with Bureau Bouwtechniek, the complex puts in place a 25-story residential tower and a separate building, creating a total of 295 residential units. During the breaking ground ceremony, the architect also inaugurated an exhibition of images highlighting his humanitarian work in conflict and disaster areas, in near proximity to the construction site.
Imagine polette Antwerp Store / zU-studio
Elisabethlaan Conversion / B-architecten
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Architects: B-architecten
- Area: 5423 m²
- Year: 2022
Vaccinopolis Center / Proof of the sum
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Architects: Proof of the sum
- Area: 6224 m²
- Year: 2022
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Manufacturers: Alucobond, Saint-Gobain, C-fast, Gerflor, Rockfon
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Professionals: Exilab, Establis, burO Groen, Jansen The Building Group, Cordeel, +2
Brutalist Duplex Apartment in de Riverside Tower / Studio Okami Architects
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Architects: Studio Okami Architects
- Area: 230 m²
- Year: 2021
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Professionals: Stiel Atelier, Afbraak Johan Janssens
Palazzo Verde Apartments / Stefano Boeri Architetti
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Architects: Stefano Boeri Architetti
- Year: 2021
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Professionals: D2S International, Group D, Van Laere, Triple Living
Neerland Housing Complex / B-architecten
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Architects: B-architecten
- Area: 7262 m²
- Year: 2020
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Professionals: UTIL, Veco Construct, Vanhout
W.PLACE Apartments / B-architecten
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Architects: B-architecten
- Area: 4253 m²
- Year: 2021
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Professionals: UTIL Structuurstudies, PI-consult bvba, Groep Geudens bvba
Zuiderzicht Antwerp Residential Complex / KCAP + evr-Architecten
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Architects: KCAP, evr-Architecten
- Area: 21082 m²
- Year: 2021
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Professionals: Bureau Bouwtechniek, Establis