Description

As part of the extensive redevelopment of Antwerp’s former dock complex, the Eilandje, and the Kattendijkok district north of the old town, six new apartment towers have risen out of the ground. Contracts were awarded for three pairs of adjacent towers to the Basel office of Diener & Diener Architekten and the London architectural offices of David Chipperfield and Tony Fretton. All six were built by the Antwerp construction company MBG. After the completion of the first two towers by Diener & Diener in 2008, the financial crisis intervened until 2011 when towers 3 and 4 designed by Chipperfield were then built. Tony Fretton’s two towers now round off the master plan adopted in 2002.

Each of the six skyscrapers has been individually designed, but the similar dimensions still allow them to be perceived as a group. They each contain 15 storeys of apartments and reach a total height of just under 60 metres. While Fretton’s towers share many parallels, their detailing gives each of them their own individual appearance. Particularly striking are the 3 m deep loggias, which repeat from bottom to top, giving Tower 6 in particular an unusual silhouette that recalls the frayed edge of woven matting. It is the northern-most tower of the ensemble. Here Tony Fretton makes reference to the Havenhuis at the end of the harbour basin with its sculptural rooftop extension by Zaha Hadid, which floats above the old building like a glass yacht. The roof of the tower, which eschews a continuous crowning parapet in favour of crenelated wall sections with metal fencing in-between, appears to dissipate optically into the sky. At night, the effect is heightened by cleverly placed artificial lighting that reflects off the loggia’s walls and ceilings turning the residential tower into a lighthouse.

The very economical interiors in both high-rise buildings were designed by De Architecten from Mechelen. The residents are not confronted by any unconventional forms of living. The small bedroom, the very small bathroom and the extremely small toilet is not all that different from the other cramped houses in much of Antwerp. The residents were not given the opportunity to adapt the shell of the apartments to their own needs like the model seen in the Kleiburg block
Renovation of the Kleiburg Residential Block in Amsterdam.

The apartments are 63, 88 and 93 m² and all have a balcony. Tower 5 has seven apartments per floor, in Tower 6, which is slimmer, only four. Most apartments, especially those on the upper floors, were sold or let at moderate prices, due not least to the economical apartment sizes and level of furnishings. The price per square metre is between 2800 and 3100 euros. For the quarter, it would have been desirable to achieve a broader mix of residents by also including publicly-subsidised apartments in the towers.

The two last residential towers – for the time being, at least – on the harbour island represent a perhaps not spectacular but certainly significant step forward in the urban expansion of the city.

Originally published in Bauwelt 17.2017, pp. 28-35, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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