The building block Hinthamerstraat 72 and 74 will undergo a major renovation in the coming years. The reason is the fusion of two organisations that for many years have used the existing buildings independently as neighbours, the public library and the centre for art education 'de Muzerije'. The intended collaboration requires spatial adaptations: House 73 seeks as much synergy as possible between the different programmes, spaces and atmospheres. In addition, the renovation is an opportunity to make the existing buildings technically more sustainable, carry out spatial and functional improvements and overdue maintenance, and work on a new interior in line with its use as one House for all. House 73 aims to be a versatile, cultural, pleasant, inspiring place that meets all contemporary requirements.

The historical images of the impressive school complex on Onderwijzersstraat evoke different emotions: nostalgia, respect, admiration, but also some aversion. The pupils of that time must have felt very small. The elongated schools grandeur is awe-inspiring yet equally intimidating.

Todays perception of education and the associated spaces is much different than 100 years ago. A contemporary school must be an inspiring learning and living environment that presents itself to its surroundings with an open face, not a walled fortress. Yet in our opinion the strict school has timeless, spatial and architectural qualities that make it suitable for a meaningful transformation. Even without extensive changes, Edison can become a school that does justice to its past and at the same time complies much better than before with current educational views. The large playgrounds and gardens play an important role in this.

In our proposal, the generous, clear and symmetrical layout serves as the starting point for a contemporary school that accommodates different forms of education.

Biestebroeck was, is, and will be a place of production, initiative and activity. A place where working, learning, living coexist side by side. A place for everyone, a neighborhood for all.

Together with AHA, noArchitects and Sergison Bates Architects, we are working on the Citygate II / Petite Île project in Brussel after a competition won in 2019. Over the next few years, a new district with 400 flats, 15,000 m2 of workspace and a large school complex consisting of several buildings will be developed in Biestebroeck, a former industrial area in Anderlecht. The project is part of the 'Canal Plan' of the Brussels city architect, which specifically focuses on the idea of the productive city aiming at lively and productive city neighbourhoods with mixed programmes for working, producing, learning and living.

The Sint-Martinus church in Burcht is a beacon visible from afar in the river landscape to the west of Antwerp. The church stands like a solid fortress right on the Scheldt and separates the village from the river and the church square from water, greenery and panoramic views. The difference between the two sides of the church, between views and seclusion, the vast industrial landscape around the river and the intimacy of the village, gives Burcht its charm and character. Our design proposal is inspired by the important role the church building plays for the village community and the charm of its unique location.

The baroque Predikherenklooster, or Dominican Monastery, is a more than impressive building. In 2011, after several failed attempts to repurpose the ruins of the monastery, the city decided to restore the historic landmark building and turn it into a public library, which will open in the autumn of 2018.

Before the restoration work began, the monastery and adjacent church were a harsh, monolithic block; for many years the expressive texture of the derelict façades told passers-by an enigmatic story of its tormented history.

The baroque monastery was built starting in 1650 and was deconsecrated at the end of the 18th century. In the 19th and 20th centuries it was mainly used for military purposes and has been abandoned since 1975. Together with the neighbouring buildings, the new Holocaust Museum, the Kaserne Dossin and the new Tinelpark, the Predikherenklooster is part of an ambitious development on the edge of the city center: the Tinelsite.

We developed our design for the library in the Predikherenklooster with the utmost respect for the particular characteristics of the existing edifice. The programming, the spatial design, our concept for the restoration as well as the design of the technical installations, and all structural interventions are intended to preserve and reinforce these characteristics.

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.

The monumental school ensemble designed by former city architect Emiel Van Averbeke was built between 1921 and 1925. The large building complex is conceived as a representative palace-like structure with three courtyards and clearly designed hierarchies. In the original design, both style preferences and explicit views on education played a role. In an eclectic composition, we find different façade compositions, floorplan types, roof shapes and very different inner courtyards side by side.

The pedagogical concept of the building as an institute consisting of different departments with distinct pedagogical aims and the stylistic development of architecture between 1900 and 1930 run parallel, creating a building complex that simultaneously refers to the architecture of The English House from the turn of the century as well as to the progressive architecture of Berlage and his followers. The eclectic architectural language positions the entire school at a significant cultural distance from the architectural character of its direct surroundings, the port area of the 'Eilandje' with its industrial hangars and working-class housing.

The building application for the recruitment room for port workers dates from 1938; the building was commissioned on 5 February 1940. The architect was Emiel van Averbeke, the city architect who ten years earlier had built the neighbouring school ensemble. The complex consists of four interconnected hangars with saddle roofs. Here, port workers came together in large groups; the raised walkways provided overview and control.

Our competition proposal for the extension of the museum takes the medieval monastery as its starting point. Its spatial beauty is the focus of the reorganisation of the museum. The museum zoning is carefully matched to the natural conditions and limitations of the existing buildings. A few building volumes of wood and brick, added with a careful hand, provide the desired renewal and extra space. The new buildings are timeless and sustainable and, together with the existing ensemble, can grow (preferably very) old.

The monumental fire station on Paleisstraat in Antwerp, an Art Nouveau ensemble with officers' quarters, was built between 1908 and 1911, based on a design by Antwerp city architects Emiel van Averbeke, A.van Mechelen and Jan van Asperen. The impressive ensemble consisting of large halls, workshops, an inner courtyard and several group accommodations was used as a fire station for more than a century, so both the facades and the interior are exceptionally well preserved. From 2023, the building will be redeveloped into contemporary group homes. Five design teams worked on this complex design task, aiming to transform the building complex into a family-friendly, green, inner-city residential environment, while preserving the monumental qualities of the buildings.

How do we transform a narrow and fully built courtyard in a densely populated neighbourhood into a green and inspiring learning and living environment? How do we build a school on such a location that feels like a home to children and young people from totally different backgrounds? And how do we ensure that both indoor and outdoor spaces are generous, sturdy and light enough to stimulate appropriation and initiative?

Municipal Education Antwerp urgently needs additional school capacity in its inner city districts. The municipality therefore organised an invited competition for a combined school for young children and spaces for youth groups in Antwerp North making use of an existing property. Having won the competition we will transform a number of existing buildings, including a former factory building into a spacious multifunctional facility for the youth. On the adjacent eastern part of the site we replace several structures of lesser quality with a new playground, a new gym and purpose built classrooms for the youngest and oldest children of the new school community.

The "Het Landje" primary school in the centre of Rotterdam was in dire need of additional space for quite some time. Following an extensive search for an appropriate location for an extension, the former building of the Hildernisseschool on the Schiedamse Vest, just opposite the main building of the primary school was refurbished. The existing building, with its comparatively generous dimensions, offered more space and possibilities than any new building would have.

The Hildernisseschool was built in 1968 as an extension to the older, adjacent school building, designed by municipal engineers. The architectural language of the existing building avoided all references to its function as a building for children; however, its rational structure, consisting of concrete columns, beams and floors, made it highly suitable for transformation.

After the refurbishment the outer and inner appearance of the building have been radically changed. The skin of the building was insulated and plastered, integrating an additional volume on the roof. All windows were replaced and the roof was insulated and covered with vegetation. 

In 2001, a bright green object sitting on top of the lift shaft of the former Las Palmas warehouse served a three-dimensional logo, visible far and wide, for its host building, the large, industrial spaces of which were temporarily used for various exhibitions during Rotterdam’s year as European Capital of Culture. One of the exhibitions, Parasites, presented designs of small-scale objects intended for unused urban sites, making ‘parasitic’ use of their existing infrastructure. The exhibition was curated and organized by Mechthild Stuhlmacher and Rien Korteknie, involving an international group of architects. Taking advantage of the enterprising atmosphere of the year of culture, one of these designs was built to full scale. The roof of the warehouse, amidst the varied, spectacular roofscapes of the Port of Rotterdam, proved an ideal location.

*Parasites: prototypes for advanced ready-made amphibious small-scale individual temporary ecological dwellings

The new school site is a children's paradise before we even start. It's vast and green, there are fields, orchards, a broad valley, water, wilderness, groves, endless possibilities to play. 

The strong brick architecture of the Salesians gives the place character and spatial identity. The venerable buildings anchor the new development to the village, the history and the meaning of the place. We would therefore like to give these buildings an important role in the design for the new school.

On the site behind the existing buildings we embrace the landscape and design a building complex that is embedded in the orchards. With its slightly sloping green roofs, pergolas, semi-enclosed outdoor spaces and school gardens, the new roof landscape looks like an extension of nature.

On the edge of the centre of Winterswijk there is a small detached villa from the second half of the 19th century. In this modest house, Piet Mondriaan spent a great deal of his youth. At the initiative of the Mondriaanhuis and the Freriks Museum in Winterswijk, Wim van Krimpen, under the supervision of the gallery and former museum director, worked on a small new museum focusing on the artist's early years. With the generous support of the States-Provincial and private sponsorship, the project was designed and realised within a few months - a little miracle in a time of recession and substantial cuts to culture budgets. In the Pentecost weekend of 2013, the new museum was opened in the presence of Princess Beatrix.