Campus Cadix
secondary school campus for art and technical crafts and sciences
The project for the new Cadix school campus on the Eilandje in Antwerp is a complex urban and architectural design task with a long history. The project was implemented in phases from 2017 and will be fully operational from 2022. It involves the integration of two secondary schools and housing in a highly urban port environment. The highly diverse programme components are spread over a large new building block and several existing monumental buildings, all designed by Emiel van Averbeke. The former primary school with kindergarten from 1927 and the former 'recruitment hall for dockworkers' from 1938 or the 'CAD sheds' form the heart of the development. They have been restored, rebuilt and extended.
| location: | Cadixwijk, Antwerp |
| design: | 2009-2017 |
| realisation: | from 2017 |
| competition: | 1st prize, Open Call Flanders 2104, in collaboration with Hildundk, Munich |
| client: | Scholen Van Morgen / SO Antwerpen |
| structural engineer: | ABT Antwerpen |
| advisor - technical installations: | RCR Herent |
| advisor - restoration: | Callebaut Architecten Gent |
| advisor - garden design: | Atelier Arne Deruyter |
| photography: | Luuk Kramer |
| illustrations competition: | team KSA, with special thanks to Moritz Bernoully and Arne Weiss |
The school campus consists of the following elements:
1. The master plan includes a housing block whose mass construction and typology has been designed together with the school as part of an integrated competition survey and a comprehensive follow-up study. The properties are developed by third parties and further elaborated.
2. A new building block, after the demolition of an existing school building, located at the Kempisch Dok Westkaai.
3. The former CAD hangars from 1938, also a protected landmark building by former city architect Emiel Van Averbeke (one of the hangars retains its original function as recruitment centre for local dockworkers).
4. The listed, historic school from 1927 by Van Averbeke, located at the intersection of the Cadixstraat, Rigastraat and Napelsstraat, consisting of a plurality of building blocks and three courtyards. The school is thoroughly restored and adapted to current use in conjunction with building heritage preservation. For this purpose, two pavilions in the courtyards are added to host new elevators and staircases and the currently unused attics are converted into high-quality workspaces.
The main idea of the master plan, already developed for the competition in 2009: in contrast to the official urban masterplan at the time (RUP) prescribing a closed building block for school and dwellings, the school and the dwellings are interwoven. As a result, the privacy of both the school and the houses is guaranteed, the school has the necessary building depth and views to all sides, and all the houses have a view over the water. After the competition, the RUP was adapted in accordance with the master plan, and the housing project (from 2019 onwards, carried out by DCA and M2 architects) was aligned with the master plan.
situation plan
The Cadix school campus is used by a vocational school (SL Technieken) and an art school (SL Cadix). Education in both schools is emphatically practice-oriented, with subjects ranging from welding and using wood saws to photography and fine art. The purpose of the new school is to optimally accommodate this variety and, where possible, display it to the outside world.
Ground floor plan of all parts realised and in use until 2022
SL Technieken is integrated into the new building volume, the image of which refers to the industrial history of the island. For classroom theory education, the school has generic premises that can be used separately or in clusters. The present concept is based on a flexible distribution of closed rooms and open workshops.
The art school is divided into old and new buildings, with large studio rooms under the roof of the new building block and different premises in the restored buildings. Indoor and outdoor spaces are carefully aligned and complement one another. In addition, there are special rooms in the attics; there are roof terraces, courtyards and representative halls. This art school is a school not only for learning but also for living. The social centre of the school is the canteen and the open playground, which are housed in the port hall flanked by the large gymnasium.
