Zaha Hadid Architects completes the Antwerp's New Port House
22/09/2016.
[Antwerp] Belgium
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
Description project by Zaha Hadid Architects
The Port House combines a new beam-shaped structure and a former fire brigade building into a new headquarter building for the Port Authority. The project is strategically located between city and harbour, with magnificent views over both the centre and the port from behind the articulate glass walls – some transparent, others reflective – in reference to the Antwerp diamond trade.
The new Port House design consists of two entities: a former fire station and a new crystalline volume lifted above the retained building. Together they form an impressive new landmark as the headquarters of the Antwerp Port Authority, overlooking both the city and the port.
The building will house approximately 500 staff and it is organised around a central atrium from where public counters, offices and meeting rooms in the existing building are directly accessible. The offices, auditorium and panoramic restaurant in the new extension are accessible via panoramic lifts just off the central courtyard.
The new extension is positioned asymmetrically over the central courtyard of the existing building, allowing light to enter the heart of the project. The extension is supported by two sculpted concrete pillars that house stairs and lifts. Within the building, offices are open plan, creating a powerful sense of space but also providing discreet meeting and breakout areas.
The new building’s volume is enclosed by an articulated glass surface: a diamond shaped design with the facade panels rotated slightly with respect to one another. In reference to Antwerp’s diamond industry the building thereby reflects the surroundings during the day while transforming into a radiating crystal at night.
Zaha Hadid, (Bagdad, 31 October 1950 – Miami, 31 March 2016) founder of Zaha Hadid Architects, was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize (considered to be the Nobel Prize of architecture) in 2004 and is internationally known for both her theoretical and academic work.
Each of her dynamic and innovative projects builds on over thirty years of revolutionary exploration and research in the interrelated fields of urbanism, architecture and design. Hadid’s interest lies in the rigorous interface between architecture, landscape and geology as her practice integrates natural topography and human-made systems, leading to experimentation with cutting-edge technologies. Such a process often results in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms.
Education: Hadid studied architecture at the Architectural Association from 1972 and was awarded the Diploma Prize in 1977.
Teaching: She became a partner of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, taught at the AA with OMA collaborators Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis, and later led her own studio at the AA until 1987. Since then she has held the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; the Sullivan Chair at the University of Illinois, School of Architecture, Chicago; guest professorships at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg; the Knolton School of Architecture, Ohio and the Masters Studio at Columbia University, New York. In addition, she was made Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture and Commander of the British Empire, 2002. She is currently Professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria and was the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Awards: Zaha Hadid’s work of the past 30 years was the subject of critically-acclaimed retrospective exhibitions at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2006, London’s Design Museum in 2007 and the Palazzo della Ragione, Padua, Italy in 2009. Her recently completed projects include the MAXXI Museum in Rome; which won the Stirling award in 2010. Hadid’s outstanding contribution to the architectural profession continues to be acknowledged by the most world’s most respected institutions. She received the prestigious ‘Praemium Imperiale’ from the Japan Art Association in 2009, and in 2010, the Stirling Prize – one of architecture’s highest accolades – from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Other recent awards include UNESCO naming Hadid as an ‘Artist for Peace’ at a ceremony in their Paris headquarters last year. Also in 2010, the Republic of France named Hadid as ‘Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ in recognition of her services to architecture, and TIME magazine included her in their 2010 list of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’. This year’s ‘Time 100’ is divided into four categories: Leaders, Thinkers, Artists and Heroes – with Hadid ranking top of the Thinkers category.