For two seasons deSingel and the VAi (Flemish Architecture Institute) are offering eight young architectural firms a platform on which to present their ideas on architecture, urban planning and landscape design.
The architects have been commissioned to provide design-based solutions to pressing social issues and intellectually challenging questions.
BEL Architects are working on a difficult design problem: a new layout for the Oudaan and Wilde Zee site in Antwerp with houses, shops and other public buildings. As an exercise they projected sixteen reference projects onto the site. What was the result? Architectural objects, which in no way relate to this Antwerp context, suggest that the site should be approached using a collage of programmes and various scale levels. BEL Architects wants to launch a debate on a type of urban design that does not adhere to a particular icon or image. Antwerp does not need a second courthouse or MAS 2. It could be a little rougher and less well-finished, with more friction and experimentation.