CLIENT

Triple Living

ARCHITECT

hama architecten

FACING BRICKS

Hand-Made linea 7035
and linea 7036

PROCESSING

random bond, 20 mm, flattened and roughened

Nieuw Zuid in Antwerp is a beautiful and contemporary form of urban development. The site of a former freight train station has been transformed, creating a more pleasant and liveable city. This has been achieved by connecting the new district to the ‘oude Zuid’ (the ‘old South’) via a boulevard which runs alongside the Gedempte Zuiderdokken area. Hama architecten designed Block 18, the most challenging block within the master plan. Their creation of the most impressive volume was inspired by the designs of Italian palazzi, for example.

The Nieuw Zuid district is based on very different spatial principles to Oud Zuid. It comprises built-up areas in the form of strips – a combination of buildings and tower blocks – perpendicular to the Scheldt. In addition, considerable attention was paid to the public space which has a rather ecological character on account of the wadis and green areas incorporated. The inclusion of a number of squares where the more public functions such as a school, catering establishments and various galleries are located also gives the district an expressly urban character. As a result, Nieuw Zuid has become a real part of the urban fabric of Antwerp city centre.

When the process of designing Block 18 started, the available floor area had not been established. What is more, a long office building with four levels was initially prescribed. Hama architecten was asked by Triple Living to design a mixed-use building, namely with commercial space on the ground floor and apartments above. The master plan for Block 18 only specified two panorama sides, on the street and park side. Hama architecten was not put off by the restrictive conditions: on the contrary, through smart interventions they achieved more than they had been asked to, creating the outstanding Block 18.

Marco Arts (Hama architecten): “Despite the restrictions, we wanted to give the building a certain authority. We decided to make it one floor higher and shorten the whole building. By doing that, we created an additional open space between blocks 17 and 18 which then created a third panorama. This enabled us to treat both ends of the building in the same way. We divided the building into three parts with a loggia as a frontal motif. Those parts with loggias were each rotated in such a way that they had their own orientation. This created a symmetrical structure with the central loggia motif in the long façade and the two end loggia motifs in the short façades.” The fourth façade, where not much normally happens, unintentionally became perhaps the most interesting. 

Marco Arts (Hama architecten): “In terms of the volume, we applied the same principle that Baldassare Peruzzi used for Villa Farnesina in Rome where the front façade is quite understated and the garden façade is made more expressive by creating a recessed middle section and adding a loggia. In block 18, the galleried walkway between the stairwells is also designed as a loggia structure so that the motif is also continued in this façade. By analogy with the palazzo as a type of urban residence, block 18 has multiple floors, a symmetrical structure and a public ground floor, for example. This homely character is emphasised in the materialisation of the two entrance halls and the connected sculptural open spiral staircases.

Besides being almost theatrical, the staircases are also extremely functional. Not only do they provide access to all the residential floors but they also spiral up to the roof level where they provide access to the shared roof garden. Functionality and flexibility were extremely important during the design process. Future-proof buildings must be able to withstand various spatial and programmatic changes over time. This flexibility was taken as a starting point when designing block 18.”

So apart from housing units, the five-storey building also has a public base with a boxing club and a juice bar. These are oriented towards the new green square between blocks 17 and 18. The fact that the building is not only pleasing to the eye but also blends in beautifully with its surroundings is due in no small part to the materialisation.

Marco Arts (Hama architecten): “We were looking for a way to express ‘solidity’ in the building and for that reason, we looked at façade materials which had a monolithic and natural character in terms of their composition. This quickly led us to brick. The joints have an exaggerated thickness and roughness in order to match the texture of the bricks and create solid-looking masonry volumes in which the bricks almost appear secondary to the mortar. In order to achieve this, we looked for a very long, thin brick that we applied in a random bond.

The colour is a tone of grey-green that we found at Vande Moortel by combining two types of bricks in a 50-50 mix: linea 7036 and linea 7035, thin facing bricks with subtle shading, produced using the popular Wasserstrich method. So rather than a classic 12 mm joint, after consulting with the manufacturer, these were processed with a 20 mm joint thickness for this application. The joints for which Weber extended spread mortar MR343-2772 was used were not rolled over at the end either. In order to create the desired solid effect, we opted for flush brushed joints.”

Hama combined these two Linea facing bricks with a transparent green glazed brick which has also been used in the communal entrance halls and interior spaces. Like the facing bricks, the glazed bricks also have a Wasserstrich texture which is still clearly visible through the transparent glaze. This creates an extremely lively surface in terms of the glazing and colour variation.

Marco Arts (Hama architecten): “This is perfect thanks to the location overlooking the park. In a purely urban environment, we would never have chosen such rough and natural brickwork for the façade but here the rationally designed building enters into a completely natural relationship with the green park-like surroundings. Especially combined with the concrete elements that have also been finished in a specific grey-green colour and the other applications of natural materials such as the natural wooden joinery and the metallic green steel gates and fencing. Although we tried to give the relatively small building a minimal degree of monumentality in the whole master plan through the design, the materialisation enables it to blend in beautifully with its surroundings.”