Date: 2006/...
Location: Antwerp, Belgium 
Area: 23.000 sqm
Client: Municipality of Antwerp; Waterwegen en Zeekanaal nv
International Competition with pre-selection 1st Prize
ARCHITECTURE / GENERAL COORDINATION
General Coordinator: João Nunes
Landscape Architecture _ Proap, Lda.
Coordinator: Carlos Ribas, Iñaki Zoilo
Project Communication 1st Phase: António Poças
Collaborators: Ana Henriques, Ana Marques, Bernardo Faria, David Sampaio, Francesca Giacometti, Jan Derveaux, Kobe Vanhaeren, Leonor Barata, Mafalda Meirinho, Maria Teles, Mariana Sargo, Marta Palha, Nicoló Piana, Nuno Jacinto, Paulo Câmra, Raquel Coutinho, Rita Leal, Rui Sequeira, Sílvia Basílio, Tiago Coelho
Local Office _ WIT
Coordinator: Guido Geenen
Collaborators: Brecht Verstraete, Bruno De Meulder, Joris Moonen, Phebe Dudek, Philip Mallants, Tinne Vandeven
Project Management _ D-RECTA
Andrea Menegotto
Structures and Infrastructures _ IDROESSE
Roberto Piccoli (Hydraulic)
Attilio Siviero (Mobility)
The claim of recovering a water front for the city, as well as the report over the variation of the water level – the normal daily tide spans from zero up to 5,00m – motivated the program for the competition.
The presentation of the projects could not exclude the need of achievable technical solutions for the defense of the city against floods, at the same time reforming the existing structures and guaranteeing a fair financial and functional program. In order to respond to this precise program, the main strategy is to protect the city and to define the embankment as a civil element and a civic structure, and as a shelter for the local populations, exploring better ways of life. An essential aspect of the idea consists in the spatial variation of the borderline against the rising waters, by approaching it to the river or gaining land for the city, defining a dynamical landscape which could vary under the tide effect or in case of exceptional floods. This line, derived from the form of each typological section, also defines the possible integration of uses. On one side it establishes floodable areas which are ideal for temporary purposes, on the other dry platforms for permanent purposes, which return public space to the city. These spaces determine the conditions for the location of infrastructures, urban furniture, buildings or green areas.
All contextual and formal solutions explored conveyed in the creation of a ‘toolkit’ containing instruments capable of adapting to the different requests and situations, and applicable in partial typological segments along the whole zone of intervention. Therefore different typological sections can be now incorporated, as a dynamical and flexible development process of the master plan. This is why the proposal is presented as a game - the ‘kaaiplan-spel’ ©, or planning game – with pieces (which are typological sections from the toolbox) and rules (which are case studies of the single areas, defined by local intervention programs). In the end, the intervention proposal can be resumed into four main planning principles: Optimism and Adaptability, opening to a contribution from parallel experiences; Territoriality, in order to put into connection the different interventions and the landscape relations contained in them; Flexibility, in order to present strategic solutions capable of dealing with all functional inconveniencies, and capable of adapting to particular situations in each segment of territory; Sustainability, in order to manage the relation between maintenance costs and value of the space, aligning ecological to economical qualities.