Collection Center, Antwerp (B).
A treasure chest in the park.
The Antwerp Collection Center (CCA) is more than just a depot: it is an architectural answer to the question of how we, as a city, deal with heritage, memory and public space. Located on the edge of the Ring Park, the CCA is a recognisable and robust beacon along the Desguinlei. Here, an extensive urban collection is kept, preserved and made accessible — a material reminder of the urban past and an investment in the future. The design consists of three carefully defined volumes: an entrance building with public functions, a work building with studios and offices, and the depot itself. This functional division ensures a readable organization and efficient operation, without sacrificing architectural coherence.
The building's plinth has been designed as an urban interface. Large windows in the entrance building provide a view of the consultation room and the public depot. At the entrance square is the CCafé, an independent pavilion that serves as a meeting place in the park — with space for education, lectures and local initiatives. For example, the depot's closed program is linked to the city's public life. The depot building itself was designed as a passive, low-maintenance volume with a decidedly long lifespan. The facade is robust and modest, reinforcing the building's typology as a “monumental treasure chest”. There is a clear signal in its closeness: something valuable is being kept here, something worth protecting. The design also takes into account future growth. The structure allows expansion, so that the capacity of the center can be significantly expanded without impact on the existing functioning or spatial order.
The facade of the CCA plays a central role in the visual language of the building. It is a self-supporting masonry facade, designed with a pronounced vertical articulation that not only expresses structural logic, but also responds to the rhythm of light and shadow. The robust plinth marks the public program and accentuates the scarce openings to the outside, clearly articulating the transition between inside and outside. At the same time, the facade also communicates its constructive logic: load reduction, weight and load-bearing structure are made legible in materiality.
For the masonry, the red Boom brick, from the Rupel region, was chosen — a local material with a deep roots in Antwerp's building history. This brick, traditionally used in homes, garden walls and street facades, is given a new dignity here: as the load-bearing skin of an urban building with a public and cultural function. Through these efforts, a bridge is built between the everyday and the institutional, between the familiar and the special. The CCA shows how caring for heritage can manifest itself architecturally: not as a spectacle, but as sustainable, public and precise architecture. A building that does not get its meaning from itself, but from what it makes possible — preservation, knowledge sharing, and collective memory.
Images/videos are always set to 4 or 6 columns wide.
Within a 'Project', two additional sizes are used:
- Full-screen image (all columns)
- Carousel (8 columns)
A maximum of 2 images or videos can be on the same row, with at least 1 column of space between them.
'Panels' always accompany corresponding content and never stand alone.
Only one 'Panel' can be attached to each row.
Here, an extensive urban collection is kept, preserved and made accessible at the Antwerp Collection Center (CCA) is the “sediment of time”, objects that make Antwerp's history tangible in all its unique, surprising forms.
Bringing that collection together and preserving it for future generations is a cultural act of great importance. It is also a symbol of Antwerp's self-awareness and pride.
.avif)
The facade of the CCA is the image carrier of the building. A self-supporting masonry facade that, thanks to its strong vertical articulation, gives space to the ever-changing play of light and shadow.
The Antwerp Collection Center was designed as a public building with the aim of preserving and unlocking the collection under optimal conditions.
Despite the limited accessibility of the building, the design aims to enhance the public character and 'presence' of the collection in urban memory.
