Antwerp City Hall
World Heritage becomes “Home of the City”.
The City Hall becomes a true ‘Home of the City’. The ground floor and Noble floor ('Schoon Verdiep') will be (partially) opened up to the public while all councilors and their staff will be brought back under one roof. In addition, the facades and interiors needed to be completely restored, while the building also had to be readied for the future in terms of comfort and energy performance (BREEAM standard: ‘excellent’).
These aims mark the second major transition of the historic City Hall. One that can be compared to the very extensive transition of the 19th century in which changes were made deep into the building’s spatial programme. It is therefore important to situate the current programme in the context of past transitions.
Despite the extent of the transition realised in the 19th century, it nevertheless succeeded in retaining the City Hall’s historic “layered coherence”. There were certain revisions, newly made connections and shifts in emphasis. And, building on the articulation and dimensions typical of the Floris style that defined the original City Hall, a more contemporary atmosphere was created that was evocative of the neo-Flemish renaissance. Nevertheless, the original structure remained legible – it was literally “set forth” – and to the present day remains the canon of the building. Preserving and reinforcing this layered coherence throughout the City Hall’s second historic transition calls for an approach that has respect for the essence of the existing structure. An architecture founded on the conviction that the existing building will tell us what it needs, and that answers to new questions are in fact already contained within the building’s historic structure or “code”.
The facades and interiors were restored with great attention and respect for the traces of time. The building did not undergo a ‘rejuvenation cure’ but a dignified restoration.
We restored the spatial structure of the ground floor so that the space regains its brightness. All the gates can be opened again and the main entrance is located on the Grote Markt. The second or ‘Illuminated Floor’, currently unknown to many people, will be made equally important as the ‘Noble Floor’, because it is here that the majority of councilors and their staff will be housed. We designed two centrally located, double-height spaces – the vestibules - that will let in more daylight and open up the view towards the skies and historic bell tower. The vestibules extend the spatial articulation of the underlying floors to the level of the new ‘Illuminated Floor’.
Stijn Bollaert, Jeroen Verrecht, David Jacobs, Wouter De Ceuster, Tijs Vervecken
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The City Hall was built in the 16th century and has been the political center of the City of Antwerp ever since.
In the 19th century, a large-scale transition took place. Building on the sections and dimensions that were originally determined for the town hall in the Floris style, a more contemporary neo-Flemish Renaissance experience was created.
To maintain and strengthen this “layered coherence” in the current second major transition of the city hall, an approach is needed that starts from the essence of the existing.
An architecture that is born from the conviction that the building itself will tell what it needs, and that answers to new questions are actually already contained in the historic structure - the building's code.
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The councilor's offices on the Illuminated Floor have a modest materialization. The focus has been placed on the daylight and the view of the environment.
Subtle differences between primary and secondary doorways are in line with the hierarchy that we also find in the lower historic interiors. The existing building provides us with what it needs.
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