Montigny live-work units Antwerp

On a corner plot with a view on the new Antwerp court house, a new project is launched with mixed functions (offices, apartments, commercial activities).

The building with half-automatic parking garage is situated on the crossroads of the Montignystraat and Cuylitstraat and aims to make maximum use of the favourable location and typology of the corner building. Thanks to the façade, the project can adapt itself to the context of the town houses of Antwerp South.

By providing a compact core with vertical circulation and utilities at the back, the façade surface is used optimally and the plan construction is kept open. The foreseen use is kept as flexible as possible and can be both an office and an apartment. This designed flexibility is the essence of ‘durable building’.

The front consists of a stacking of identical prefab frames of white concrete. The frames are filled in with floor high windows that provide different building layers with a maximum of daylight. On the corner the window profiles are disconnected from the concrete frames, which create indoor roof terraces that form a part of the living space through the floor high foldable windows. The small corbelling forms an accent worthy of the corner.

Conceiving and detailing the raw building extensively makes it usable in the final building. This strategy leads to a lower material use and a larger adaptability and durability.