Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects

Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Interior Photography, Dining roomHeadquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Interior Photography, KitchenHeadquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Exterior Photography, FacadeHeadquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Interior Photography, KitchenHeadquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - More Images+ 20

  • 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
  • Clients: Province of Antwerp
  • Techniques: Boydens
  • City: Antwerp
  • Country: Belgium
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Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Exterior Photography, Facade
© XDGA - Matthias Van Rossen

Text description provided by the architects. The new building replaces a complex of modernist building volumes that used to occupy the entire site and 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 pavilion, which was positioned as an obstacle in between the fragments.

Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Interior Photography, Kitchen
© XDGA - Matthias Van Rossen

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.

Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Interior Photography, Kitchen
© XDGA - Matthias Van Rossen
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Image 17 of 25
Plan
Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Interior Photography, Dining room
© XDGA - Matthias Van Rossen

During the design process, the pavilion 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 pavilion. At the centre of the plan, one large steel truss spans from one core to the other.

Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Interior Photography, Glass
© XDGA - Matthias Van Rossen

Two more trusses are integrated into the concrete sidewalls and their triangulation defines the form of the window openings. In the 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.

Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects - Exterior Photography
© XDGA - Matthias Van Rossen

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Project location

Address:Antwerp, Belgium

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects" 04 Sep 2020. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/946997/headquarters-of-the-province-of-antwerp-xdga-xaveer-de-geyter-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

© XDGA - Matthias Van Rossen

安特卫普省政府大楼 / XDGA - Xaveer De Geyter Architects

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