Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects

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  • Design: Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher
  • Zha Project Director: Joris Pauwels
  • Zha Project Architect: Jinmi Lee
  • Zha Project Team: Florian Goscheff, Monica Noguero, Kristof Crolla, Naomi Fritz, Sandra Riess, Muriel Boselli, Susanne Lettau
  • Zha Competition Team: Kristof Crolla, Sebastien Delagrange, Paulo Flores, Jimena Araiza, Sofia Daniilidou, Andres Schenker, Evan Erlebacher, Lulu Aldihani
  • Executive Architect: Bureau Bouwtechniek
  • Restoration Consultants: Origin
  • Fire Protection: Fpc
  • City: Antwerp
  • Country: Belgium
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Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 5 of 41
© Hufton+Crow

Text description provided by the architects. The new Port House in Antwerp repurposes, renovates and extends a derelict fire station into a new headquarters for the port – bringing together the port’s 500 staff that previously worked in separate buildings around the city.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Exterior Photography, Waterfront
©  Helene Binet

With 12 km of docks, Antwerp is Europe’s second largest shipping port, serving 15,000 sea trade ships and 60,000 inland barges each year.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 3 of 41
© Hufton+Crow

Antwerp handles 26% of Europe’s container shipping, transporting more than 200 million tonnes of goods via the ocean-going vessels that call at the port and providing direct employment for over 60,000 people, including more than 8,000 port workers. Indirectly, the Port of Antwerp ensures about 150,000 jobs and has ambitious targets for future expansion to meet the continent’s growth and development over the next century.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 24 of 41
© Hufton+Crow

In 2007, when the former 1990s offices of the Port of Antwerp had become too small, the port determined that relocation would enable its technical and administrative services to be housed together, providing new accommodation for about 500 staff. The port required a sustainable and future-proof workplace for its employees, representing its ethos and values in an ever-expanding local and international arena.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 26 of 41
© Tim Fischer

As the threshold between the city and its vast port, Mexico Island in Antwerp’s Kattendijk dock on Quay 63 was selected as the site for the new head office. The waterside site also offered significant sustainable construction benefits, allowing materials and building components to be transported by water, an important requirement to meet the port’s ecological targets.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 22 of 41
© Hufton+Crow

Following the construction of a new fire station with facilities needed to service the expanding port, the old fire station on the Mexico Island site – a listed replica of a Hanseatic residence – became redundant and relied on a change of use to ensure its preservation.  This disused fire station had to be integrated into the new project. The Flemish government's department of architecture, together with the City and Port authorities organized the architectural competition for the new headquarters.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 17 of 41
© Hufton+Crow

Zaha Hadid Architects' design is informed by detailed historical research and a thorough analysis of both the site and the existing building.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 41 of 41
Long Section

Marc Van Peel, president of the Port of Antwerp, said: “There was only one rule laid down in the architectural competition, namely that the original building had to be preserved. There were no other requirements imposed for the positioning of the new building. The jury was therefore pleasantly surprised when the five shortlisted candidates all opted for a modern structure above the original building. They all combined the new with the old, but the design by Zaha Hadid Architects was the most brilliant.”

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 19 of 41
© Hufton+Crow

Working with Origin, leading heritage consultants in the restoration and renovation of historic monuments, ZHA’s studies of the site’s history and heritage are the foundations of the design which firstly emphasises the north-south site axis parallel with the Kattendijkdok linking the city centre to the port. Secondly, due to its location surrounded by water, the building's four elevations are considered of equal importance with no principal facade.  ZHA’s design is an elevated extension, rather than a neighbouring volume which would have concealed at least one of the existing facades. ZHA and Origin’s historic analysis of the old fire station also highlighted the role of its originally intended tower - a grand, imposing component of the fire station's Hanseatic design. Its bold vertical statement, intended to crown the imposing volume of the building below, was never realised.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 29 of 41
Level 0 Floor Plan

These three key principles define the design’s composition of new and old: a new volume that ‘floats’ above the old building, respecting each of the old facades and completing the verticality of the original design’s unrealised tower.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 23 of 41
© Hufton+Crow

Like the bow of a ship, the new extension points towards the Scheldt, connecting the building with the river on which Antwerp was founded.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 18 of 41
© Tim Fischer

Surrounded by water, the new extension's façade is a glazed surface that ripples like waves and reflects the changing tones and colours of the city’s sky. Triangular facets allow the apparently smooth curves at either end of the building to be formed with flat sheets of glass. They also facilitate the gradual transition from a flat façade at the south end of the building to a rippling surface at the north.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 20 of 41
© Hufton+Crow

While most of the triangular facets are transparent, some are opaque. This calibrated mix ensures sufficient sunlight within the building, while also controlling solar load to guarantee optimal working conditions. At the same time, the alternation of transparent and opaque facade panels breaks down the volume of the new extension, giving panoramic views of the Scheldt, the city and the Port as well as providing enclosure.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 15 of 41
©  Helene Binet

The façade’s rippling quality is generated with flat facets to the south that gradually become more three-dimensional towards to the north. This perception of a transparent volume, cut to give the new building its sparkling appearance, reinterprets Antwerp’s moniker as the city of diamonds. The new extension appears as a carefully cut form which changes its appearance with the shifting intensity of daylight. Like the ripples on the surface of the water in the surrounding port, the new façade reflects changing light conditions.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 14 of 41
© Hufton+Crow

The old fire station’s central courtyard has been enclosed with a glass roof and is transformed into the main reception area for the new Port House. From this central atrium, visitors access the historic public reading room and library within the disused fire truck hall which has been carefully restored and preserved. Panoramic lifts provide direct access to the new extension with an external bridge between the existing building and new extension giving panoramic views of the city and port.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 11 of 41
© Tim Fischer

The client requirements for an ‘activity based office’ are integrated within the design, with related areas such as the restaurant, meeting rooms and auditorium located at the centre of the upper levels of the existing building and the bottom floors of the new extension. The remaining floors more remote from the centre, comprise open plan offices.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 33 of 41
Level 6 Floor Plan

Collaborating with services consultant Ingenium, ZHA developed a sustainable and energy-efficient design reaching a ‘Very Good’ BREEAM environmental rating. Despite the challenges of integrating with a protected historic building, high standards in sustainable design were achieved by implementing effective strategies at each stage of construction. A borehole energy system pumps water to a depth of 80m below grade in over 100 locations around the building to provide heating and cooling. In the existing building, this system uses chilled beams. In the new extension, it uses chilled ceilings. Waterless lavatory fittings and motion detectors minimise water consumption while building automation and optimal daylight controls minimise artificial lighting.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 4 of 41
© Hufton+Crow
Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 9 of 41
© Tim Fischer

With constant references to the Scheldt, the city of Antwerp and the dynamics of its port, married with the successful renovation and reuse of a redundant fire station - integrating it as a fully-fledged part of its headquarters - the new Port House will serve the port well through its planned expansion over future generations.

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Image 7 of 41
© Tim Fischer

Marc Van Peel said: “The architectural style of the original building, a replica of the former Hansa House, recalls the 16th century, Antwerp's "golden century." But now above this original, a contemporary structure in shining glass has been built, which I am sure, represents a new golden century for Antwerp.”

Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects - Exterior Photography
©  Helene Binet

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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: "Antwerp Port House / Zaha Hadid Architects" 22 Sep 2016. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/795832/antwerp-port-house-zaha-hadid-architects> ISSN 0719-8884

©  Helene Binet

安特卫普港口大楼 / 扎哈·哈迪德建筑事务所

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