Les Olives

XDGA is an internationally operating architecture and urban design firm, established in 1989 and based in Brussels and Paris.
XDGA understands architecture and urban design as complementary tools to read, interpret, and reimagine the contemporary city. Whether working at the scale of a single building or that of a territory, XDGA’s design process is driven by a rigorous scanning of the context (both material and immaterial) in which each project is embedded. This analytical foundation is essential to building a clear conceptual framework from which form can emerge as a medium to orchestrate complexity, expose contradictions and open up possibilities.
In this light, XDGA’s interventions aim to reveal the tensions that are already present and foster those that may arise from the juxtaposition of old and new. This often involves working with contrast rather than mimicry, creating clear-cut environments in which future scenario’s remain possible and challenging conventional typologies and programmes.
Architecture hence becomes a mode of critical inquiry, one that is fundamentally driven by method, not by image. For this reason, XDGA distances itself from any pre-conceived language (or, worse, style) as each project generates its own, specific vocabulary and tackles accordingly pressing matters such as sustainability, circularity and (adaptive) re-use. These are regarded as potential catalysts for the transformation of the urban realm and contribute, together with the unique expertise of the different actors involved, to the formulation of progressive spatial concepts and inventive technical solutions.
XDGA is ultimately engaged in a continuous search about what architecture is and can be, as it strives to accommodate everyday life by crafting projects that are precise yet generous, daring yet grounded.

XDGA plays an active role in shaping the architectural discourse, through both practice and academic engagement, in Belgium and abroad, and counts to this day 6 monographs, numerous awards (Belgian Award for Architecture, Bigmat Award, Mies Van Der Rohe Award) and three travelling solo exhibitions.

Some of XDGA’s most relevant realised projects include: Mobilis (Brussels, BE, 2024), Melopee Multipurpose School Building (Ghent, BE, 2020), the Headquarters of the Province of Antwerp (Antwerp, BE, 2019) and the Subway Station and Public Square Place Rogier (Brussels, BE, 2019).

Ongoing projects comprise: the Renovation of the ‘Brigittines’ Housing Complex (Brussels, BE, 2023—), the design of the HfG School of Arts (Frankfürt, DE, 2023—) and the Renovation and Extension of the Museum of Fine Arts of Tournai (Tournai, BE, 2015—).

Since 2023, XDGA is a partnership composed by Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Tom Bonnevalle, Antoine Chaudemanche, Pieter Coelis, Ingrid Huyghe, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte and Wouter van Daele.

Doug Allard, David Ampe, Heiner Averkamp, Tom Bonnevalle, Maud Bouhin, Lionel Bousquet, Jérémie Brault, Karel Bruyland, Rémy Carat, Elena Caruso, Elisenda Cervelló, Antoine Chaudemanche, Pieter Coelis, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Johan Cool, Elisabeth d' Aubarède, Xaveer De Geyter, Joris De Greef, Jacqueline De Souza Luduvice, Hanne Defloor, Nathalie Devoghelaere, Nicolas Duerinck, Issa Driesen, Nenad Duric, Mélanie Evra, Sandra Fol Neuville, Annelotte Herrebosch, Eva Hoffmann, Yasmine Houari, Ingrid Huyghe, Maxime Jaume, Ménélik Jobert, Karla Kovacevic, Matija Kraljić, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Solène Le Gallo, Jonathan Robert Maj, Marie Meurice, Philip Niekamp, Emilia Ockerman, Federico Pedrini, Julien Picard, Martin Pujol, Luciano Riquelme, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Philipp Schmider, Dana Smetankova, Yuichiro Suzuki, Nicolas Tant, Celeste Tellarini, Foucault Tiberghien, Willem Van Besien, Wouter Van Daele, Roxanne Van Poppel, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Lode Vanderbeek, Simon Vellut, Samia Wahbi, Rui Zenha, Ujzë Zhuri

2026

Soft power: The Brussels Way of Making the City, LUCA, Luxembourg

2024

Soft power: The Brussels Way of Making the City, SAM, Basel

2022

Classroom, Arc en Rêve, Bordeaux, Lisbon, Hasselt
It’s About Time, IABR, Rotterdam
De Groote Verbouwing, Brussels

2021

Institution Building, CIIVA, Brussels

2015

XDGA_160_EXPO, Galerie Jaroslava Fragnera, Prague

2015

XDGA_160_EXPO, Casa dell’Architettura, Rome

2014

XDGA_160_EXPO, Eesti Arhitektuurimuuseumis, Tallinn

2023

Xaveer De Geyter, The RSA Metzstein Architecture Discourse 2023, Edinburgh, UK.

2020

Xaveer De Geyter Architects 2005-2020, El Croquis 204, Madrid, ES.

2013

XDGA_161_BOOK, Lannoo Publishers, Tielt, BE.

2002

Xaveer De Geyter Architects 1992-2005, El Croquis 126, Madrid, ES.

2001

After-sprawl, Research for the Contemporary City, NAi Uitgevers, Rotterdam, NL.

2001

Xaveer De Geyter Architects, 12 PROJECTS, Ludion, BE.

2021

Brussels Architecture Prize, category winner 'Extra Muros', for Melopee School, Ghent, Belgium
Bigmat Award, Grand International Prize, for Melopee School, Ghent, Belgium
Belgian Prize for Architecture, category winner, for Melopee School, Ghent, Belgium

2014

Flemish Culture Award for Architecture

2013

Bigmat Award, Grand International Prize, for Kitchen Tower, Brussels, Belgium
Belgian Prize for Architecture, category winner, for Kitchen Tower, Brussels, Belgium

2005

Académie d’architecture, France, prix de l’urbanisme, for Îlot Saint Maurice urban plan, Lille, France

2003

Mies van der Rohe award, finalist, for the Chasse Park Apartments, Breda, The Netherlands

1993

Architecture prize from the Province of Antwerp, for the House near Antwerp, Belgium
Charles Wilford Prize, category realizations, for a House with Workshop near Ghent, Belgium: first prize

CONDTIONS GENERALES

1. Champ d’application

Les présentes conditions générales s’appliquent à tous les travaux et à toutes les livraisons de services et/ou de biens par XDGA BV (dont le siège social est établi à 1000 Bruxelles, Quai du Commerce 48 et dont le numéro d’entreprise est 0461.324.179, ci-après dénommée «XDGA»). En acceptant une offre ou en la signant, le donneur d’ordre reconnaît accepter les présentes conditions générales, à l’exclusion expresse d’éventuelles conditions propres du donneur d’ordre. Des dérogations aux présentes conditions générales ne sont possibles qu’avec l’accord écrit explicite de XDGA, auquel cas les conditions générales demeurent applicables de façon supplétive.

2. Offres

Les offres sont toujours basées sur les informations fournies par le donneur d’ordre. Sauf mention contraire expresse, une offre de XDGA est valable pendant 30 jours calendaires à compter du lendemain de la date mentionnée sur l’offre.

3. Prix

Tous les tarifs horaires et/ou prix par jour-homme mentionnés dans une offre s’entendent hors TVA. Les tarifs horaires et/ou prix par jour-homme inclus seront indexés annuellement conformément à l’indice des salaires des employés (CP 200) et ce, au 1er janvier de chaque année, sur la base de la formule suivante: prix indexé = prix convenu x ((0,8 x (1 + indice de la CP 200 de l’année d’indexation en pour cent) + 0,2).

Sauf mention contraire expresse, ceci s’applique également aux offres qui prévoient des prix forfaitaires, auquel cas les prix forfaitaires inclus seront indexés au 1er janvier de chaque année sur la base de la formule susmentionnée.

4.Travaux supplémentaires

Les prix figurant dans une offre ne comprennent que les prestations et les quantités prévues dans l’offre. Sauf mention contraire expresse, les travaux supplémentaires éventuels seront facturés aux mêmes prix unitaires.

5. Paiements

Le délai de paiement des factures de XDGA est de 30 jours calendaires à compter de la date de la facture. En cas de non-paiement dans les délais, les montants dus seront majorés de plein droit et sans mise en demeure préalable (i) d’intérêts à compter du jour suivant la date d’échéance au taux d’intérêt prévu par la loi du 2 août 2002 relative à la lutte contre le retard de paiement dans les transactions commerciales et (ii) de dommages et intérêts s’élevant à 15% du montant dû, avec un minimum de 60EUR.

6. Contestation

La contestation d’une facture doit être notifiée par écrit à XDGA dans les huit jours de la date de la facture, faute de quoi la facture est définitivement acceptée.

7. Prestation de services

La prestation de services est de nature technique. XDGA n’est ni le conseiller juridique du donneur d’ordre, ni son représentant légal sur le chantier. La mission de XDGA implique une obligation de moyens. En acceptant la commande, XDGA s’engage à exécuter celle-ci au mieux de ses capacités et de ses connaissances et dans le respect des règles de l’art.

8. Délais d’exécution

Sauf mention contraire expresse, les délais d’exécution indiqués dans une offre sont indicatifs et un éventuel retard ne donne pas droit à la résiliation du contrat ou à des dommages-intérêts.

9. Information

Avant l’exécution de la commande, le donneur d’ordre fournira à XDGA toutes les informations raisonnablement nécessaires à sa bonne exécution.

10. Responsabilité

XDGA n’est responsable des dommages causés par le non-respect de ses engagements que si et dans la mesure où le dommage est causé par une fraude, une intention ou une négligence grave de la part de XDGA ou de ses préposés. L’éventuelle responsabilité de XDGA est limitée aux dommages directs (à l’exclusion expresse de toute forme de dommages indirects, y compris les dommages consécutifs, le manque à gagner et la perte d’une opportunité). En tout état de cause, la responsabilité maximale de XDGA sera limitée au montant du prix total dû par le donneur d’ordre en vertu du contrat. Si l’indemnisation est couverte par l’assurance responsabilité professionnelle de XDGA, le dommage réclamé ne peut en aucun cas dépasser la couverture accordée par son assurance responsabilité professionnelle. La réparation du dommage causé par le non-respect d’une obligation contractuelle par un mandataire ou un administrateur ou un employé de XDGA donne lieu, dans les limites légales, exclusivement à une action en responsabilité contractuelle contre XDGA. Aucune action en responsabilité extracontractuelle ne peut être intentée contre le mandataire ou l'administrateur ou l'employé d'XDGA, même si la cause du dommage peut également être considérée comme un acte illicite.

11. Propriété intellectuelle

Sauf convention contraire expresse et écrite, les services fournis par XDGA ne donnent lieu au transfert d’aucun droit de propriété intellectuelle.

12. Nullité

En cas de nullité d’une disposition des présentes conditions générales, les autres dispositions restent intégralement d’application et la disposition nulle est remplacée par une disposition valable qui se rapproche le plus possible de la portée et de l’effet économique de la disposition initiale.

13. Vie privée

XDGA attache de l’importance à la protection de la vie privée. Les éventuelles données à caractère personnel seront traitées conformément au Règlement général sur la protection des données (2016/679) et à la loi du 30 juillet 2018 relative à la protection des personnes physiques à l’égard des traitements des données à caractère personnel.

14. Communication

Sauf disposition contraire expresse dans l’offre ou l’accord entre les parties, chaque partie a le droit de publier librement des articles descriptifs, avec ou sans illustration, concernant la coopération entre les parties, à condition que le nom de l’autre partie soit mentionné.

Les parties sont tenues de garder secrètes toutes les informations confidentielles obtenues l’une de l’autre ou d’autres sources dans le cadre de leur accord. Une information est considérée comme confidentielle si elle a été communiquée par l’autre partie ou si la confidentialité découle de la nature de l’information. Cette confidentialité ne peut être rompue qu’avec le consentement écrit de l’autre partie et/ou en vertu d’une obligation

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. Scope

These general terms and conditions apply to all work and all supplies of services and/or goods by XDGA BV (whose registered office is at 1000 Brussels, Quai du Commerce 48 and whose company number is 0461.324.179, hereinafter referred to as “XDGA”). By accepting or signing an offer, the client acknowledges acceptance of these general terms and conditions, to the express exclusion of any of the client’s own terms and conditions. Deviations from these general terms and conditions are only possible with the express written consent of XDGA, in which case these general terms and conditions shall remain applicable on a supplementary basis.

2. Quotations

Quotations are always based on the information provided by the client. Unless expressly stated otherwise, a quotation from XDGA is valid for 30 calendar days from the day following the date stated on the quotation.

3. Prices

All hourly rates and/or prices per man-day stated in an offer are exclusive of VAT. The hourly rates and/or prices per man-day shall be indexed annually in accordance with the employee wage index (CP 200) on 1st January of each year, based on the following formula: indexed price = agreed price x ((0.8 x (1 + CP 200 index for the year of indexation as a percentage) + 0.2).

Unless expressly stated otherwise, this also applies to tenders providing for lump-sum prices, in which case the lump-sum prices included shall be indexed on 1 January of each year on the basis of the above formula.

4. Additional work

The prices stated in a quotation include only the services and quantities specified in the quotation. Unless expressly stated otherwise, any additional work shall be invoiced at the same unit prices.

5. Payments

The payment term for XDGA invoices is 30 calendar days from the invoice date. In the event of non-payment within the specified period, the amounts due shall automatically and without prior notice be increased by (i) interest from the day following the due date at the rate provided for by the Act of 2 August 2002 on combating late payment in commercial transactions and (ii) damages amounting to 15% of the amount due, with a minimum of EUR 60.

6. Disputes

Any dispute regarding an invoice must be notified in writing to XDGA within eight days of the invoice date, failing which the invoice shall be deemed definitively accepted.

7. Provision of services

The provision of services is of a technical nature. XDGA is neither the client’s legal adviser nor its legal representative on site. XDGA’s remit involves an obligation of means. By accepting the order, XDGA undertakes to carry it out to the best of its ability and knowledge and in accordance with best practice.

8. Completion times

Unless expressly stated otherwise, the completion times indicated in a quotation are indicative, and any delay does not entitle the client to terminate the contract or claim damages.

9. Information

Prior to the execution of the order, the client shall provide XDGA with all information reasonably necessary for its proper execution.

10. Liability

XDGA shall only be liable for damage caused by a breach of its obligations if and to the extent that the damage is caused by fraud, wilful misconduct or gross negligence on the part of XDGA or its agents. Any liability on the part of XDGA shall be limited to direct damages (with the express exclusion of any form of indirect damages, including consequential damages, loss of profit and loss of opportunity). In any event, XDGA’s maximum liability shall be limited to the total amount payable by the client under the contract. If compensation is covered by XDGA’s professional liability insurance, the claim may under no circumstances exceed the cover provided by its professional liability insurance. Compensation for damage caused by a breach of a contractual obligation by an agent, director or employee of XDGA shall, within the limits of the law, give rise exclusively to a claim for contractual liability against XDGA. No action for non-contractual liability may be brought against an agent, director or employee of XDGA, even if the cause of the damage may also be considered a tortious act.

11. Intellectual Property

Unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing, the services provided by XDGA do not give rise to the transfer of any intellectual property rights.

12. Invalidity

Should any provision of these general terms and conditions be invalid, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect, and the invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision that most closely approximates the scope and economic effect of the original provision.

13. Privacy

XDGA attaches great importance to the protection of privacy. Any personal data will be processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679) and the Act of 30 July 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data.

14. Communication

Unless expressly provided otherwise in the offer or the agreement between the parties, each party is entitled to freely publish descriptive articles, with or without illustrations, concerning the cooperation between the parties, provided that the name of the other party is mentioned.

The parties are obliged to keep secret all confidential information obtained from each other or from other sources within the framework of their agreement. Information is considered confidential if it has been communicated by the other party or if this follows from the nature of the information. This confidentiality may only be breached with the written consent of the other party and/or pursuant to a legal obligation

ALGEMENE VOORWAARDEN

1. Toepassingsgebied

Deze algemene voorwaarden zijn van toepassing op alle werkzaamheden en alle leveringen van diensten en/of goederen door XDGA BV (met maatschappelijke zetel te 1000 Brussel, Handelskade 48 en met ondernemingsnummer 0461.324.179, hierna “XDGA” genoemd). Door een offerte te aanvaarden of te ondertekenen, erkent de opdrachtgever deze algemene voorwaarden te aanvaarden, met uitdrukkelijke uitsluiting van eventuele eigen voorwaarden van de opdrachtgever. Afwijkingen van deze algemene voorwaarden zijn alleen mogelijk met de uitdrukkelijke schriftelijke toestemming van XDGA, in welk geval de algemene voorwaarden aanvullend van toepassing blijven.

2. Offertes

De offertes zijn altijd gebaseerd op de door de opdrachtgever verstrekte informatie. Tenzij uitdrukkelijk anders vermeld, is een offerte van XDGA geldig gedurende 30 kalenderdagen vanaf de dag na de op de offerte vermelde datum.

3. Prijzen

Alle in een offerte vermelde uurtarieven en/of prijzen per mandag zijn exclusief btw. De uurtarieven en/of prijzen per mandag worden jaarlijks geïndexeerd overeenkomstig de loonindex voor werknemers (CP 200), en dit op 1 januari van elk jaar, op basis van de volgende formule: geïndexeerde prijs = overeengekomen prijs x ((0,8 x (1 + index van de CP 200 van het indexeringsjaar in procenten) + 0,2).

Tenzij uitdrukkelijk anders vermeld, geldt dit ook voor offertes waarin forfaitaire prijzen zijn opgenomen, in welk geval de opgenomen forfaitaire prijzen op 1 januari van elk jaar worden geïndexeerd op basis van de bovengenoemde formule.

4. Extra werkzaamheden

De prijzen in een offerte omvatten uitsluitend de in de offerte voorziene prestaties en hoeveelheden. Tenzij uitdrukkelijk anders vermeld, worden eventuele bijkomende werken tegen dezelfde eenheidsprijzen gefactureerd.

5. Betalingen

De betalingstermijn voor facturen van XDGA bedraagt 30 kalenderdagen vanaf de factuurdatum. Bij niet-tijdige betaling worden de verschuldigde bedragen van rechtswege en zonder voorafgaande ingebrekestelling verhoogd met (i) rente vanaf de dag volgend op de vervaldag tegen de rentevoet bepaald door de wet van 2 augustus 2002 betreffende de bestrijding van betalingsachterstand bij handelstransacties en (ii) schadevergoeding ten belope van 15% van het verschuldigde bedrag, met een minimum van 60 EUR.

6. Betwisting

De betwisting van een factuur moet binnen acht dagen na de factuurdatum schriftelijk aan XDGA worden gemeld, bij gebreke waarvan de factuur definitief wordt aanvaard.

7. Dienstverlening

De dienstverlening is van technische aard. XDGA is noch de juridisch adviseur van de opdrachtgever, noch zijn wettelijke vertegenwoordiger op de bouwplaats. De opdracht van XDGA houdt een middelenverbintenis in. Door de opdracht te aanvaarden, verbindt XDGA zich ertoe deze naar beste vermogen en kennis en volgens de regels van de kunst uit te voeren.

8. Uitvoeringstermijnen

Tenzij uitdrukkelijk anders vermeld, zijn de in een offerte vermelde uitvoeringstermijnen indicatief en geeft een eventuele vertraging geen recht op ontbinding van de overeenkomst of op schadevergoeding.

9. Informatie

Alvorens de opdracht wordt uitgevoerd, zal de opdrachtgever XDGA alle informatie verstrekken die redelijkerwijs nodig is voor de goede uitvoering ervan.

10. Aansprakelijkheid

XDGA is slechts aansprakelijk voor schade veroorzaakt door het niet nakomen van haar verplichtingen indien en voor zover de schade het gevolg is van bedrog, opzet of grove nalatigheid van XDGA of haar ondergeschikten. De eventuele aansprakelijkheid van XDGA is beperkt tot directe schade (met uitdrukkelijke uitsluiting van elke vorm van indirecte schade, met inbegrip van gevolgschade, gederfde winst en verlies van een kans). In elk geval is de maximale aansprakelijkheid van XDGA beperkt tot het bedrag van de totale prijs die de opdrachtgever krachtens de overeenkomst verschuldigd is. Indien de schadevergoeding gedekt is door de beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering van XDGA, kan de schade in geen geval hoger zijn dan de dekking die door haar beroepsaansprakelijkheidsverzekering wordt geboden. De vergoeding van de schade veroorzaakt door de niet-nakoming van een contractuele verplichting door een gevolmachtigde, een bestuurder of een werknemer van XDGA geeft, binnen de wettelijke grenzen, uitsluitend aanleiding tot een vordering uit hoofde van contractuele aansprakelijkheid tegen XDGA. Er kan geen vordering uit onrechtmatige daad worden ingesteld tegen de gevolmachtigde, de bestuurder of de werknemer van XDGA, zelfs indien de oorzaak van de schade ook als een onrechtmatige daad kan worden beschouwd.

11. Intellectuele eigendom

Tenzij uitdrukkelijk en schriftelijk anders is overeengekomen, geven de door XDGA geleverde diensten geen aanleiding tot de overdracht van enig intellectueel eigendomsrecht.

12. Nietigheid

Indien een bepaling van deze algemene voorwaarden nietig is, blijven de overige bepalingen onverminderd van kracht en wordt de nietige bepaling vervangen door een geldige bepaling die de strekking en de economische werking van de oorspronkelijke bepaling zo nauw mogelijk benadert.

13. Privacy

XDGA hecht belang aan de bescherming van de privacy. Eventuele persoonsgegevens worden verwerkt in overeenstemming met de Algemene Verordening Gegevensbescherming (2016/679) en de wet van 30 juli 2018 betreffende de bescherming van natuurlijke personen in verband met de verwerking van persoonsgegevens.

14. Communicatie

Tenzij uitdrukkelijk anders bepaald in de offerte of de overeenkomst tussen de partijen, heeft elke partij het recht om vrijelijk beschrijvende artikelen, al dan niet met illustraties, te publiceren over de samenwerking tussen de partijen, op voorwaarde dat de naam van de andere partij wordt vermeld.

De partijen zijn verplicht alle vertrouwelijke informatie die zij in het kader van hun overeenkomst van elkaar of uit andere bronnen hebben verkregen, geheim te houden. Informatie wordt als vertrouwelijk beschouwd indien deze door de andere partij is meegedeeld of indien dit voortvloeit uit de aard van de informatie. Deze geheimhouding mag alleen worden doorbroken met schriftelijke toestemming van de andere partij en/of op grond van een verplichting

XDGA Brussels

48 Quai Du Commerce / Handelskaai
B–1000 Brussels
+32 (0)2 218 88 86
info@xdga.be

XDGA Paris

18 Rue Du Faubourg Du Temple
FR–75011 Paris
+33 (0)1 58 30 99 61
info@xdga.be

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If interested, please send your CV and Portfolio (.pdf, max 8MB) to jobs@xdga.be

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Invoice details

XDGA B.V.
48 Quai Du Commerce / Handelskaai
B–1000 Brussels
TVA: BE 0461 324 179

N°
Projects
Location
Type
Procedure
Status
Year
Size m²

362

Faith Park

Tirana

Urban

Competition

Competition

2025

210.000

The creation of the Faith Park is the opportunity to add a piece to the already astonishing landscape of the Erzen River. A place dedicated to coexistence, dialogue, integration and exchange where faith, nature and heritage intertwine in complexity and harmony.
Faith Park is about multiplicity: contemplation and celebration, intimacy and exposedness, dedicated and common spaces, heritage and present-day artefacts, spontaneous nature and formalized gardens, unbuilt and built, existing topography as well as infrastructural interventions. These apparent opposites coexist and find correspondence in this layered (land)scape.
The creation of the new public park becomes the opportunity to start a needed process of care: the landscape will not only be consolidated and preserved but also enhanced by the infusion of public program.
In this framework, our proposal is based on a series of layers, composed both from qualities and challenges of the existing condition and the numerous new interventions.
The layers of this ‘multiplicity’ are structured on a common framework: a grid virtually and physically projected onto the site. The resulting checkerboard celebrates encounter and coexistence by generating conditions that allow maximum exchange and flexibility between objects, surfaces and trajectories. The initially orthogonal grid reacts to the slope partially abandoning its orthogonality. In one direction (North-South), straight lines climb up the slope in the form of stairs, paths and ramps; on the opposite direction (East-West), the curvy topography lines take over. This deformation of the grid not only settles accessibility issues but also allows for a subtle integration or natural and artificial.

Location
Tirana
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2025
Size (m²)
210.000

Client
National Territory Planning Agency (NTPA)
Albanian Investment Corporation (AIC)
with the support of the Miral Group
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, Johan Cool, Yasmine Houari, Philip Niekamp, Celeste Tellarini
Consultants
iRI (local architects)
Plant En Houtgoed (landscape and biology)
Jeshile (landscape)
D&C Partners (transport)
Diant Zeneli (artist)
353

Oman Diamond

Muscat

Commercial

Competition

Competition

2025

43.455

This project began with the discovery of an unfamiliar site that nevertheless resonated deeply with our past work in peripheral, transitional landscapes. The brief was concise yet ambitious: to create meaningful architecture in a fragmented urban context between a highway and a commercial complex in the outskirts of Muscat.
The proposal articulates the dual program hotel-office through a cluster of three interlocking cubic volumes wrapped by a shimmering stainless steel curtain and anchored to the ground by a continuous, rammed earth plinth.
Climatic and cultural references rooted in Omani vernacular permeate the project: a shaded courtyard (Sahn), a covered gallery (Liwan), an atrium (Adin) and a covered entrance (Riwaq) assure passive cooling and comfort.
Ultimately, the Oman Diamond stands as a landmark: iconic, contextual, and climate-responsive.

Location
Muscat
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2025
Size (m²)
43.455

Client
Muscat Governorate

Architect
XDGA
For XDGA : Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Ménélik Jobert, Jonathan Robert Maj, Philip Niekamp, Philipp Schmider, Willem Van Besien
Consultants
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Bollinger+Grohmann (structure, techniques)
Vincent Ruffra, Julius Maisch (animations)
352

Les Olives

Marseille

Education

Competition, 1st Prize

Ongoing

2025–

9.570

Les Olives, formerly a village, is now a residential neighbourhood in north-east Marseille. Here, a new school is being planned as part of the city’s “School Plan” to modernize facilities, accommodate growing student numbers, and support urban renewal. The site currently hosts a gym, a refectory, a caretaker’s lodge and a 1960s prefabricated school building. Rather than demolishing the latter, the proposal aims at reusing it as a large covered hall and playground, offering both shelter and privacy for the nursery area. The outdated gym will furthermore not be refurbished, but will serve as an open air playground for primary school students.
The new project is designed to optimise outdoor spaces, mark the entrance to the site and allow for construction phasing without modular installations on site.
The layout consists of three volumes, each dedicated to a specific use (1. Gym, administration and extracurricular activities areas; 2. Classrooms; 3. Dining and caretaker accommodation) and connected by covered, external circulation routes.
The architecture ultimately features load-bearing facades in cut stone and a mixed structure combining stone, wood, metal and concrete, following the principle of ‘the right material in the right place’.

Location
Marseille
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Ongoing
Year
2025–
Size (m²)
9.570

Client
SPEM (Société Publique des Ecoles Marseillaises)
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Nathalie Devoghelaere, Martin Pujol, Anne-Sophie Rouillère
Consultants
MOA Architecture (co-contractor architect)
Hervé der Sahakian (landscape)
Collective Yakafokon (community engagement, participatory construction site)
Batiserf (structure)
Novaflux (MEP, energy)
Thernova (heating)
Ingé2M (electricity, fire safety)
ALMA (infrastructure, site coordination)
Antea Group (asbestos removal)
EPC (quantity surveyor)
Peutz (acoustics)
Indigo architecture (environment, BDM)
Tr-Ame (environment, BDM)
MAS réemploi (reuse)
Frame (images)
351

Quartiers de demain

Sedan

Urban

Competition

Competition

2025

88.850

In the framework of the international competition Quartiers de demain, the project for the Résidence Ardenne of Sedan, developped in close collaboration with the municipality, the social landlord and a citizens jury, brings together the refurbishment of three housing towers and the redesign of the open spaces that surround them.
The project calls for a fundamental change in viewpoint, as it shifts focus from the city itself to the inhabitants’ perspectives, exploring the notion of isolation as a quality: “I live in a tower in the countryside”, to quote a member of the citizens’ jury. Drawing upon the living heritage of the fortifications, an ecological and climate-conscious framework is proposed, where the different environments present are reinforced and enriched and a central clearing becomes the heart of community life.
The tower layouts, with their open corners reminiscent of the ramparts’ historical shapes, furthermore offer a multitude of possibilities thanks to flexibly partitioned apartments that can accommodate the residents’ various instances.
The Asfeld and Capucins ramps ultimately become connectors between the “countryside” and the city center’s squares, while a new mobility hub, nestled between the fortifications and the slope, enables a new polarity of services and an easier connection between the upper and lower parts of the city.

Location
Sedan
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2025
Size (m²)
88.850

Client
Habitat 08 / Municipality de Sedan
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Maud Bouhin, Maxime Jaume, Philip Schmider, Nicolas Tant, Celeste Tellarini, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte
Collaborators
NUNC (architecture)
grue (landscape)
CityTools (urbanism, program)
Ivoire (networks)
Eco+construire (economy)
Boma (reuse)
Solares Bauen (fluid and thermal engineering)
Batiserf (structural engineering)
Matera (heritage)
340

Heidelberg Refugee Centre

Heidelberg

Residential

Competition

Competition

2024

83.000

The Ankunftszentrum (arrival centre) is designed as a village.
The various buildings which form the center are organized around a series of public, collective and semi-private open spaces that retain the open garden city qualities of the existing site and the proposed Patrick Henry Village Masterplan.
Three new courtyards are proposed, each located and scaled within the site to match its surrounding built functions and to ‘capture’ the existing trees. These open courtyards, just as in a village, organize and orientate the various programs and buildings which border them. They are connected by a generous pedestrian colonnade housing collective functions, including a café, accommodation services, leisure, health and family care spaces. The accommodation rooms are finally organized into a series of garden pavilions.

Location
Heidelberg
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2024
Size (m²)
83.000

Client
BAMF - Federal Office for Migration and Refugees
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Tom Bonnevalle, Hanne Defloor, Issa Driesen, Eva Hoffmann, Wouter Van Daele
Consultants
OIDL Landschaftsarchitekten (landscape)
339

SMAK

Ghent

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2024

19.335

In the heart of Ghent’s Citadelpark, stands a rather impressive building complex designed on the occasion of the 1913 World Fair.
Originally conceived as a coherent ensemble organised around the central, elongated distribution space of the Floraliënhal (Floralies’ Hall), this gargantuan Century Palace has ever since undergone various transformations and currently presents itself as a heterogeneous cluster of independent buildings.
In a cross-like configuration, on the north side of the Floraliënhal lies‘t Kuipke (an old conservatory converted into a velodrome), on the east side lies the S.M.A.K Municipal Museum of Contemporary Arts (established in 1999 inside the 1949 Casino building), while on the south, replacing the original entrance to the Palace, is the modernist Conference Centre ICC Gent.
Within this context, the proposal envisions a two-fold entity split on either side of the Floraliënhal, able to reactivate its open character and connective potential.
West, on the more sheltered side of the park, is located the Collectiehuis, designed to accommodate some 3500 artworks from the permanent collection of the museum; a hermetic piece of architecture constituted by four cores, a loadbearing façade and TT floor elements that allow for a free and flexible plan organisation.
East and facing the main gateway to the City centre, on the other hand, is located the SMAK-hal, conceived to attract and entertain a more volatile audience.
It is composed by an underground depot, a transparent hall with a suspended cinema, a bookshop, a café and ticketing office and a three-floor exhibition volume; all around the perimeter, are arranged so-called ‘serving’ volumes that host all auxiliary functions (technical, circulation, administration).
Although different in nature, both museum buildings are unified not only from the similarly layered treatment of the glass façade, yet by the monumental, continuous ground floor ‘plaza’ that renders the surrounding park an integral part of the museal experience.

Location
Ghent
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2024
Size (m²)
19.335

Client
sogent
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Tom Bonnevalle, Nicolas Duerinck, Nenad Duric, Yasmine Houari, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte
Consultants
Altstadt (heritage consultant)
Arcadis (mechanical engineer and fire safety)
Ney & Partners (structure)
Daidalos-Peutz (acoustical engineer)
Frame (images)
336

Brigittines

Brussels

Residential

Competition, 1st Prize

Ongoing

2023–

13.650

The Cité des Brigittines is a major social housing complex situated in the south side of the city of Brussels, whose dilapidation and obsolescence have become infamous throughout the years.
It is hence appropriate to consider a renovation to contrast the stigma associated with this modernist artefact in favour of a plural, respectful and diversified way of living.
Instead of making a tabula rasa, however, we propose to focus on the existing rooms, their uses, their openings and their mutual relationships; sliding doors will allow for different spatial configurations, a new thick, habitable thermal façade will accommodate enhanced domestic activities, while a structural framework grafted to the existing building will provide with a series of additional rooms.
These will not be characterised by predetermined uses, yet by the specific spatial and environmental conditions they present. Specifically, we propose:

- Winter gardens, as an extension of the living rooms;
- Adjoining balconies, in order to provide additional outdoor space and direct access to the bedroom;
- Alcoves and window seats.

Location
Brussels
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Ongoing
Year
2023–
Size (m²)
13.650

Client
Beliris
Architect
XDGA + PAA (architecture, competition phase)
for XDGA: Xaveer De Geyter, Tom Bonnevalle, Rémy Carat, Catherine Cornu, Nicolas Duerinck, Léo Mazurek, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte
Consultants
Bollinger+Grohmann (structure)
Arcadis (HVAC, sustainability and fire regulations)
330

Marengo

Toulouse

Commercial

Competition

Competition

2024

11.173

The Marengo Multimodal Exchange Centre is the emblem of the new regional and metropolitan mobility development ambition of the city of Toulouse.
The project must therefore take into account complex environmental and urban issues, as well as structural and programmatic constraints, that ultimately manifest in an intelligible and powerful composition: a plan formed by three squares.
On the South side, the Transport Hall is distinguished by a monumental, interactive canopy.
At the centre, a sunken and wooded patio, acts as an interface for all the different programs, and brings natural light into the heart of the project.
Finally, on the North side, the regional office building embodies the sustainable mobility principles promoted by the region of Occitanie.

Location
Toulouse
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2024
Size (m²)
11.173

Client
Région Occitanie / Toulouse Métropole
Architect
XDGA (representative)
Xaveer De Geyter, Vincent Blactot, Rémy carat, Antoine Chaudemanche, Marie Debraine, Léo Mazurek, Julien Picard
Consultants
ppa architectures
Setec (structure)
Betem (techniques)
Peutz (acoustics)
8.18 (lighting)
Intégral Ruedi Baur (design)
Frame (renders)
329

Prague Airport

Prague

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2023

25.000

Vaclav Havel Airport is undertaking an impressive development of its terminal facilities which will improve its operationality while asserting its identity, urban qualities, and sustainable ambitions. The project must be a new icon for the airport but also the city of Prague, as the airport is often a city’s first impression. This is amplified by the singular location of the two plots that form an entrance gate. Our aim is to propose simple geometries that integrate themselves in the larger system of the ongoing airport development plan, and to clarify a complex situation in terms of fluxes, technical installations, and security zoning through the introduction of two strong figures capable of coping with the existing technological surroundings.
The check-in hall takes the shape of a compact, elevated building characterized by striking, triangular columns whose shapes ensure the horizontal stability of the structure. The columns are the only load-bearing elements as the circulation cores and technical shafts are placed inside patios, in order to provide maximum flexibility and layout adaptability over time. Its deep plan is punctuated by patios, that allow for light to pierce through the building.
For the multifunctional building, we propose a unified stepped volume in which the three programs (hotel, congress, parking) form an architectural ensemble reacting to its environment specificities. Along the
Aviatická street side (the main car access to the airport) the building is sculpted into a stepped volume which creates 4 digital facades allowing for a kinetic experience for the visitors arriving by car at the airport. Along the skywalk façade and facing the future pedestrian axis, the program is articulated in order to link the two ground floor levels. On the ground floor, the lobby of the hotel activates the public space while a patio on +3 connects to the ‘passerelle’ leading to the skywalk.

Location
Prague
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2023
Size (m²)
25.000

Client
Prague Airport
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, Chloé de Salins, Nathalie Devoghelaere, Eva Hoffman, Julien Picard, Misa Yonezawa
Consultant
Bollinger & Grohmann (structure, techniques)
Images
ailleurs.studio
328

Euro Stadium

Vlora

Urban

Competition, 1st Prize

Ongoing

2023–

165.500

The strategy for the new Flamurtari sports complex is to imagine the future of the complex as a new piece of the city, allowing it to integrate coherently with its nearby context and to influence its development over time.
Integrating new shops, offices and housing with the sports vocation of the site, we imagine sport and its equipment as the possibility of a new city. Respecting the history of the site, the project imagines preserving the current situation of the stadium while creating around it a new mixed urban district, offering new proximities between sport, city and landscape.
The site is organized in three sequences.
From West to East, three urbanization sectors take place: first a commercial strip with a wide open first floor creating a majestic entrance to the stadium, then a tertiary strip composed of four new buildings creating views on the territory and finally a thin housing strip taking place between the landscape and the sports facilities.
Between these three new construction bands is the new stadium on the west side, the training stadium on the east side and new sports facilities open to the public. This organization in sequence makes it possible to concentrate all of the urban development in the heart of the site and to create a large-scale landscaped public space around it. This public space allows the new urban stadium to be addressed at 360 degrees from all the streets, inside the site, it becomes, depending on the situation, a road, a park or a square.
The majority of the urbanization is concentrated in a rectangle, this one is constituted in its contour of the continuous footbridge addressing the whole site as well as the rehabilitated swimming pool. This covered and continuous walkway is then located between the new sports complex and its landscaped contour, sometimes it extends to the adjacent streets to address new constructions in the contours of the site when possible.
The gymnasium is also connected to the rest of the stadium via the footbridge, its rehabilitation may also include new public sports fields at the intersection of Sadik Zotaj Street and Pelivan Leskaj Street.
Finally, the organization of the sector in strips allows the integration of the existing buildings into the project by allowing them a new access from the heart of the block and new views on the sports complex.

Location
Vlora
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Ongoing
Year
2023–
Size (m²)
165.500

Client
National Territorial Planning Agency (NTPA)
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis, Marie Debraine, Maxime Jaume, Philip Niekamp, Camelia Petre, Julien Picard, Misa Yonezawa
Consultants
CMA (local architect)
Jeshile (landscape)
Bollinger + Grohmann (structure)
Ledia Kostandini (artistic intervention)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
327

Knokke Heist-Casino

Knokke-Heist

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2023

37.500

This project involves the comprehensive redevelopment of the Knokke-Heist Casino-Kursaal (Léon Sytnens, 1930) and its surrounding open spaces. The proposal aims at balancing the preservation of this modernist artefact with the implementation of a series of contemporary interventions.
Specifically, the design strategy encompasses nine key spatial devices including: a tensile infrastructure on the beach, a podium on the dike, a glazed retractable roof above the central hall, a sunken patio, a ramp, a waterpark, a rooftop, a floating platform and a five-story glass volume that will connect the existing building to the new areas.
A large steel canopy moreover envelops the existing building, while creating a visual connection to the surroundings, incorporating sustainable energy features and enhancing the monument’s presence.Lastly, Stynen original building’s configuration is reinforced by a cross-shaped layout, able to organise and integrate a dynamic, year-round mix of activities including art, commerce, events, and nightlife.

Location
Knokke-Heist
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2023
Size (m²)
37.500

Client
Gemeente Knokke-Heist
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, Maud Bouhin, Johan Cool, Elisabeth d' Aubarède, Marie Debraine, Nicolas Duerinck, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte
Consultants
Bureau Greisch (structure)
Arcadis (techniques)
322

Stuttgart Opera

Stuttgart

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2023

52.830

The construction of a new opera for Stuttgart presents a unique challenge, as the brief requires to design a building that should be both prestigious and temporary.
The traditional approach of creating an oversized and hermetic setting is replaced with the composition of four elementary volumes corresponding to the different functions of an opera house (1. Rehearsal and administration, 2. Production, 3. Performance, 4. Opera).
By stripping down the program into four clear entities, the proposal achieves scalability, efficiency, and economy. Furthermore, the choice of raising the podium allows for a lively streetscape and provides for efficient deliveries, while the introduction of a large double-height gallery connecting the different buildings grants immediate access to the main parts of the programme.
In addition to this, the processes taking place in the backstage - that in most buildings remain hidden- are given a visual identity, while the foyer and the auditorium are rendered as beacons in the surroundings.
Overall, the proposal seeks for a balance between the extremes of oversized envelopes or completely fragmented functions, making it more than just the sum of its parts.

Location
Stuttgart
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2023
Size (m²)
52.830

Client
Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Leo Mazurek, Nomundari Munkhbaatar, Julien Picard, Federico Pedrini, Lode Vanderbeek
Consultants
Werner Sobek (engineering)
Ducks Sceno (scenography)
Kahle Acoustics (acoustics)
Frame (images)
318

Caserne Vion

Toulouse

Residential

Competition

Competition

2022

12.330

The Caserne Vion is one of Toulouse's most accomplished examples of Brutalist architecture.
Our team's proposal is uncompromising: the remarkable elements are preserved and restored.
The garage is transformed into a food market that opens onto the Saint-Cyprien district through a folded glass façade, revealing the double-curved concrete volumes topped by a three-dimensional structure.
The public and densely planted courtyard establishes a new connection between the Allées Charles de Fitte and Rue Sainte Lucie, while giving prominence to the drying tower.
The renovation of the facades of the apartment block and the officers' building, in line with bioclimatic principles, ensures a comfortable accommodation without breaking with Debeaux’s legacy.
A new residential pavilion ultimately requalifies the entrance from Rue Sainte-Lucie, in continuity with the existing building frontage.

Location
Toulouse
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2022
Size (m²)
12.330

Client
Crédit Agricole Immobilier
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, Vincent Blactot, Rémy Carat, Marie Debraine
Consultants
Betillon & Freyermuth Architectes (partner architecture)
Bollinger + Grohmann (Structure)
Elithis (MEP)
Eco+Construire (Economist)
Frame (images)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux (photos)
316

Kanal Bookshop

Brussels

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2023

443

“Le Musée Vivant de la Lecture et de la Parole”, in reference to Henri Storck’s pioneer documentary (1965), is the name of the proposal for CIVA’s bookshop and reading room in the Kanal-Centre Pompidou.
Designed as a free-plan, the project defines a non-hierarchical series of sub-spaces that differ in size and characteristics; these are delimited by flexible light architectural devices such as curtains and shelving systems that allow for various spatial configurations, activities and users.
Additionally, certain elements pertaining to the domestic vocabulary are integrated into the project, in order to make the space inviting and welcoming: carpets, curtains, felt cushions, etc. The use of textiles, besides stimulating the senses, also covers a technical role as it improves acoustics and diversifies surface temperatures.
The selected seating responds to the desire to include various morphologies; this atlas is entirely composed of chairs designed by female designers and architects with the ambition to make their work visible.

Location
Brussels
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2023
Size (m²)
443

Client
Fondation Kanal
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Marie Debraine, Chloé de Salins, Nomundari Munkhbaatar, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Ujzë Zhuri
Consultants
l’Architecture qui Dégenre (support for gender equality and diversity)
Gilles Collard (philosopher, writer)
315

Toulouse La Cadène

Labège

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2023

20.000

The project consists in the creation of a multimodal transport hub, including the implementation of a multi-storey parking facility, a pedestrian bridge, a bus station and regulation area, and the integration of a regional TER rail stop. These various structures appear to be the constituent elements of a clear ambition: the management and orderly organization of a wide spectrum of urban and peri-urban flows, as well as the creation of a new east–west link between neighborhoods across the Enova development zone and toward the major cycling routes running through the valley.
The speed, fluidity, and safety of intermodal transfers represent the main challenge of such an infrastructure : the layout of the hub’s master plan therefore groups the different structures and passenger drop-off and pick-up areas in a single location, as close as possible to the railway tracks, in order to reduce the distances pedestrians must travel when crossing the site.
The decision to shift pedestrian flows as close as possible to the railway lines leads to a compact and rational arrangement of the various facilities: the programmed spaces, whether built or open, are located within the interstices left free from motorized traffic.
On top of this, the project aims to anticipate long-term development by leaving a large portion of the site free of construction and providing an open, pedestrian, reversible, and landscaped ground level. The La Cadène multimodal transport hub is ultimately an infrastructural project that provides a multifaceted landscape response combining durability, functionality, and environmental ambition.

Location
Labège
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2023
Size (m²)
20.000

Client
Tisséo
Architect
XDGA / PPA architecture
For XDGA : Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Maud Bouhin, Maxime Jaume, Philip Niekamp, Julien Picard, Samia Wahbi
Consultants
EGIS Villes et Transports
D’une ville à l’autre
Barbanel
Terrel
313

HfG School of Arts

Offenbach am Main

Education

Competition, 1st Prize

Ongoing

2022–

32.850

Located on the river banks of the Rhine-Main, the volume of the HfG campus is defined by a series of subtractions : a 190 m x 27m green courtyard stitching the two plots together, a green axis defined by urban regulations, an area designated for future development, as well a series of smaller cut-outs perforating the facades of the two four-story buildings. This remarkable scale pays tribute to that of the surrounding industrial fabric, together with the factory-like atmosphere conferred to these spaces for creation, reflection, mediation, and discourse.
All the HfG activities are organized on the first two floors, around a 4.50 m wide gallery looping around the campus, which is conceived as a small city contained within a building.
This inner street organises and provides access to all the different clusters, while being generously dimensioned to accommodate an extension of the north-facing workshops.
The gallery furthermore works as a thermal buffer zone between inside and outside on the opposite south-facing façade, where it becomes rather transparent and acts as the school’s showcase for the passers-by. Finally, towards the east, it bridges the gap between the two wings of the building and becomes both a student exhibition space, and an interface for future expansion.
A supplementary set of voids, of a much more domestic scale, are ultimately spread throughout the campus : the main entrance stairs, the stepping atriums, the terraces, and the patios. Albeit different, all of these spaces allow for vertical connections within the project and belong to the larger strategy of building by means of negative space.

Location
Offenbach am Main
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Ongoing
Year
2022–
Size (m²)
32.850

Client
HFG of Main
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects),
For XDGA : Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Vincent Blactot, Chloé De Salins, Yasmine Houari, Nomundari Munkhbaatar, Philip Niekamp, Ulysse Zenhlé
Consultants
Topotek 1 (architecture, landscape)
Bollinger+Grohmann (structure)
Transsolar (environnement)
Frame (images)
312

Schulcampus Ingolstadt Friedrichshofen

Ingolstadt

Education

Competition

Competition

2022

14.400

The campus ensemble created at the Ingolstadt Friedrichshofen site is constituted by two new school buildings (a middle school and a specialized school) harmoniously inserted into the surrounding landscape.
The plots, organised following a linear subdivision in the north-south direction, each feature a sports field and a courtyard in close relation to the school building.
The mirrored arrangement of this spatial sequence on the two sites creates a balanced composition, while the enclosed perimeter structures the buildings’ facades, creates inside-outside continuity and finally helps in defining the leftover organic, park-like green space.

Location
Ingolstadt
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2022
Size (m²)
14.400

Client
City of Ingolstadt and District of Upper Bavaria
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), Topotek Architects
for XDGA: Xaveer De Geyter, Marie Debraine, Chloé de Salins, Nomundari Munkhbataar, Julien Picard, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Dana Smetankova
Consultants
Topotek Landscape (landscape)
Bollinger & Grohmann (structure)
308

Starlette

Strasbourg

Education

Competition

Competition

2022

5.470

The site of the future school group in the Starlette district is located in a strip, between the Bassin Vauban and the Parc du Petit Rhin. The project is consistent with the ambitions of the urban project management group, by formulating a response that strengthens the resilience of this piece of the city.
The different entities that make up the future Starlette school group each participate in the activation of the surrounding public spaces through the creation of a series of autonomous, targeted entrances.
The structure of the paths that defines the Starlette district is strictly respected, by proposing to give back a width of twelve meters to the public domain and thus transform the simple visual breakthrough into a real public garden path.
A refined volumetry makes the project exist in the urban sequence, opens up a new visual breakthrough between the park and the Citadelle district and limits nuisances within Area.
The architectural language, as well as the landscape, is inspired by the port history of the site, and consistent with the natural conditions of the territory and its ecological imperatives.
Alongside suitability, the proposal reinvestigates the archetype of the school building founded on two major axes.
The first axis calls for a balanced relationship between the children and living; the project multiplies the natural and infiltrating surfaces, the sustained presence of plants is a prerequisite for a rich biodiversity thanks to the enhancement of solar gain, rainwater and prevailing winds.
The second axis aims at the sobriety of the techniques used, as much by the mixed wood-concrete structure and the programmatic resilience of the constructive choices as by its low-tech facade devices and the installation of low-emission heating and cooling systems.
Our project brings together each of the functional entities facilitating the journey of children, teachers, staff and the public. It is structured around two self-sufficient programmatic loops. The nursery loop located on the ground floor offers access to the first cycle, their dining room and extracurricular areas. The elementary loop begins opposite the Quai Vauban and unfolds in three dimensions linking the classes of level 2 and level 3 to the courtyard and shared functions.
The proposal for the Starlette school group ultimately tries to balance these instances as accurately as possible.

Location
Strasbourg
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2022
Size (m²)
5.470

Client
SPL Deux-Rives
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Vincent Blactot, Rémy Carat, Antoine Chaudemanche, Marie Debraine, Léo Mazurek, Damian Wnuk
Consultants
Bollinger + Grohmann (structure)
C2BI (economy)
Solares Bauen (mechanics, environment)
Euro Sound Project-DB Silence (acoustics)
ES Services Energetiques (restauration)
Justine Miething (landscape)
305

Joint Research Centre

Seville

Commercial

Competition

Competition

2022

13.085

The new JRC headquarters in Sevilla will rise on la Cartuja Island, a piece of land shaped by the Expo92 and redefined today as a Technology and Research Park.
The vast and undefined urban condition that characterizes the island, coupled with the attention for sustainable matters, constitute the foundations of the project.
At the center of the site a new urban and architectural element takes shape: a three-dimensional landscape that structures the site and is occupied on the north side by an elevated building providing a sheltered public space.
The floating volume, conceived with a mixed concrete (-1 and ground floor) and timber structure, consists of four floors. The lower one houses all the shared facilities : the restaurant, the meeting hub and the social infra. The workspaces are organised on three floors above, while a large roof terrace with a pergola is added on the top floor. The 16m deep slabs are interrupted by four patios that differ in size and type, while a full-height 4 meter wide circulation strip acts as a microclimatic buffer and provides direct access to each individual department.
In contrast to the open character of the public ground floor, the building volume itself, wrapped by a screen of louvres on three sides, projects a rather intimate appearance.

Location
Seville
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2022
Size (m²)
13.085

Client
European Commission
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer de Geyter, David Ampe, Rémy Carat, Antoine Chaudemanche, Chloé De Salins, Marie Debraine, Jacqueline Luduvice, Léo Mazurek, Philip Niekamp, Julien Picard, Anne-Sophie Rouillère
Consultants
Burgos&Garrido Arquitectos (local architect)
Ney & Partners (engineering)
ARCbcn (local engineering)
303

ENSAPC

Cergy

Education

Competition

Competition

2022

6.287

A shelter, a Kiosk for the Arts.
On the ground, the project consists of a floor that acts as a plinth, defined by two distinct access levels that follow the topography of the site as closely as possible. The roof of this base is an esplanade, and just as a kiosk within a park, it is a space made available to the occupants and visible to all.
The major functions of the school are installed in three separate volumes that support the workshop canopy and overlook the esplanade, without obstructing the views to the outside.
The volume collecting the library is the most vertical: a succession of mezzanines revolve around the reception desk.
The administration is held in the most elongated volume, as the plan consists of a central corridor serving the offices and meeting rooms.
The third volume is larger, more transparent and it brings together the public programs (restaurant, exhibition, dance, amphitheatre), which communicate by a monumental staircase situated towards the entrance and the park.
Finally, in the canopy, the workshops are arranged around an 8m high circulation element that offers views towards the esplanade, the park, the city and the sky.
Each workshop features both windows and indirect overhead light, which allow for the natural light influx to be fully controlled.

Location
Cergy
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2022
Size (m²)
6.287

Client
Cergy-Pontoise
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Elisabeth D’Aubarède, Joris De Greef, Ari Gruijters, Ménélik Jobert, Jonathan Robert Maj, Philip Niekamp, Yuichiro Suzuki
Consultants
Bollinger & Grohmann (structure)
Ygrec (techniques, environment, economy)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Images
ArtefactoryLab
302

Annecy

Annecy

Urban

Study

Completed

2022–2022

150.000

This project for the City of Annecy investigates the hypothesis according to which landscape can be a vector of convergence on a large scale. Within the context of a sustained growth of the population and economic needs on the one hand, and the amplification of environmental and climatic issues on the other hand, a framework of "magnets" is developed. These structuring landscape entities that cross the city from the shores of Lake Fier to the hills, polarize the growth and the future organization of this Alpine city. These frameworks agglomerate around them public programs, shared habitats and new production sites. They structure mobility, organize energy transfers and materialize places for socialization more suited to contemporary needs.
This hypothesis of convergence of issues around a collective landscape is inseparable from the construction of partnerships between various actors in the territory. Specifically, the vision is built in dialogue with the local authorities and a selection of players in the territory throughout the competitive dialogue phase. The second phase of the project ultimately involves a series of workshops aiming at clarifying the strategy and creating engagement around potential pilot projects.

Location
Annecy
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2022–2022
Size (m²)
150.000

Client
Ville d’Annecy
Architect
XDGA, Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
For XDGA : Maud Bouhin, Rémy Carat, Antoine Chaudemanche, Thaïs de Roquemaurel, Chloé de Salins, Nicolas Duerinck, Eleonor Ferragu, Arie Gruijters, Philip Niekamp, Camelia Petre, Samia Wahbi
Consultants
Ville Ouverte (participation)
CVA-Dominique Boudet (strategy)
Egis (mobility, environment, development)
301

Flag Square and Regional Development Centre

Vlora

Urban

Commission

Under construction

2019–

66.500

Located in the historical heart of the city the Flag Square is no longer adapted to its current use and traffic situation. The project for the public space imagines a complete restructuring of the space, introducing a more human scale and better defined spaces. The existing structure earmarked to become the Regional Development Centre speaks of a long and difficult relation between the site and the surrounding city. At an overall length of over 150 meters and a height of more than 65m the existing structure is itself of an almost ‘urban’ scale, a ‘super’structure that has the potential to house a big amount of programs, functions and architectures. The site and building have to deal with a remarkable dichotomy of scales and urbanity between the north-eastern and south-western context. On the north and especially the east the project faces the fine, small-scale historic tissue of the recently renovated old city. On the western side the building faces a much larger scaled context, loaded with symbolic landmarks of national importance. The scale is defined by the main Flag Square, the large public park and the large ‘Boulevard’ avenue. The building project employs two main tools, inspired more on urban design than architecture. The first tool is the creation of two open and public galleries that cut through the superstructure from east to west. These galleries reduce the perceived scale of the massive structure and allow for a previously lacking porosity through the ground floor. The second urban tool that defines the architecture of the building is the creation of a ‘vertical’ public street, reaching from the public ground floor, over the roof garden all the way up to the panoramic bar at the top of the sculptural tower volume. As the main public thoroughfare of the building, it is the place where the front doors of the different program components will address themselves to. This exterior semi-public vertical street serves many functions. It is the negative space that transforms the building into a sculpture, it forms the terrace and balcony space for the programs inside the building, it will serve as a main public circulation though the structure – dimensioned for large masses moving up and down – but mainly it serves as a connector, a link between the old and new, heritage and innovation, between the artisans and the young coders, linking people as well as the city and the superstructure.

Location
Vlora
Type
Urban
Procedure
Commission
Status
Under construction
Year
2019–
Size (m²)
66.500

Client
Albanian Development Fund (ADF)
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis, with Karla Kovacevic, Jonathan Robert Maj, Rui Zehna
Consultants
iRI sh.p.k. (engineering), Jeshile sh.p.k. (landscape)
300

Puppet Theatre

Tirana

Cultural

Competition, 1st Prize

Under construction

2020–

5.750

For the City of Tirana and the citizens the project is first and foremost about the extension of the Great Park of Tirana. In reconverting the former enclosed and off-limits Garda site, the projects allows for a vast plot of land to be returned to the public realm. Just as elsewhere in the park, several ‘pavilions’ are integrated in the green park.
These connections between the city and the park are the main driver of the masterplan, both for the open green space, as for the three buildings in the park. Each and every building will make a unique connection to the park and serve as a gateway to the park. From a monumental arch through the mixed used building, over the theatre that opens unto the park to the plaza/platform/stairs that cuts through the National Library, each program establishes its own unique relation to the park and displays its programming in a different way to the citizens strolling through the park. The new park and its public program will turn this into a seamless connection of urban and green spaces.
The current puppet theatre occupies a cramped and inappropriate space in the centre of the city. We propose to give the theatre a better and bigger space inside Tirana’s big park. Far more important than pure size is the intention to make it into a flexible, free and welcoming space for performance, production, experimentation regardless of the type of cultural activity.
We envision the theatre as a cultural centre, a place of production and a performance machine. Just like some street theatres of old, the building opens itself to the public. The new theatre doesn’t shy away from being a ‘machine’, a tool to be used for a wide variety of possible performances and the production that is required to make those performances (traditional and modern puppet theatre, dance, music, performance, spoken word …).
Also unique in this puppet theatre is its relation to the Park of Tirana. Not only is the building a pavilion in the park, a bit set back from the main roads, it also has the possibility to open up the main stage to the park, where the existing natural slope becomes an outside seating area to enjoy puppetry or other performances.

Location
Tirana
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Under construction
Year
2020–
Size (m²)
5.750

Client
Ministry of Culture, Albania
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Dana Vargovcikova, Karla Kovacevic, Rui Zenha, Vincent Blactot, Ada Petrela, Pieter Coelis
Consultants
iRI shpk (local architecture)
Gentian Lipe (Structure)
Hydro&Energy (MEP)
dUCKS scéno (Scenography)
298

Ministry of Finances Berlin

Berlin

Civic

Competition

Competition

2021

71.600

The starting point of the new project is to optimize and centralize the Federal Ministry of Finance into a single location in the Post Block area of Berlin. The site context is complex, consisting of an urban historical residue following the end of the war, and made of a series of individual lots and building types re-inhabited over the last 70 years. Our particular plot is situated between two buildings used by the Ministry of Finance: the Post block building in direct relation to the site, and the Detlev-Rohwedder-Hause, which sits opposite the site, across the Wilhelmstraße. The basis of the main volume is a direct response to the urban context and the desire to fill the void with a strong form inspired by the qualities of the neighboring building typologies.
An overall structure of three internal Courtyards and eight Windows organize the project. The window’s function is to penetrate the mass and create a strong relationship with the surrounding and the urban context. Some of the windows become courtyards while others are set back and give direct light into the main interior spaces. Some have a direct relation with the green zone created on the east side of the site.
At the ground floor level, the large horizontal openings intersect each other and the vertical courtyards to maximize transparency at the pedestrian level and to create views through the building linking the street to the private landscapes in the interior of the block. The cuts leave behind eight solid “feet” to accommodate the dark program: cores for vertical circulation with stairs, elevators, and technical shafts. The top level is a secured zone reserved for the management and the minister of finance, conceived as a roof pavilion surrounded by greenery.
The compact main volume and organization of the project on the site is oriented in such a way that it reserves space towards the inside of the block for a “backyard” of substantial green space. Three extensions make connections between the new form and the neighboring context. The “backyard” is terminated by the largest of the connections containing mostly a housing program for the academic wing of the BMF, closing the northern facade of the block. The green strip offers a new relationship between the existing Post block building, its courtyard, and the General Postgarten with the historical tree, a protected natural monument. The intermediate space acts as the social green area for the project—it forms a sequence of backyards, gardens, and roofscapes that extend the quality outdoor space beyond the site boundary. The employees of the BMF will benefit from the close proximity to quality and spacious outdoor green spaces, as well as being in the immediate vicinity of the private gardens in the green façade.

Location
Berlin
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2021
Size (m²)
71.600

Client
Ministry of Finance
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Johan Cool, Marie Debraine, Nathalie Devoghelaere, Philip Niekamp
Consultants
Bollinger+Grohmann (structure, fire)
Boydens / Sweco (mechanics)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
297

BSR

Berlin

Commercial

Competition

Competition

2021

55.000

Triangle - Circle – Square: three pure forms with a town square.
Our urban design approach is to introduce the "BSR Plaza", a public space at the centre of the project site. Opening up the site will create a vibrant and accessible public space, adjacent to Hildegard Knef Square, which is dominated by motorized vehicles. The BSR Square is an isosceles triangle in plan. One side is open along its entire length to Wilhelm-Kabus-Strasse, clearly forming the focal point of the project, while the other two sides of the triangle are defined by buildings. The BSR plaza not only provides a clear address for each building - the main entrances are on the plaza and the semi-public facilities face the plaza - but also provides a passageway to the apartments behind.

Location
Berlin
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2021
Size (m²)
55.000

Client
BSR Südkreuz Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Elisabeth d'Aubarède, Arie Gruijters, Ménélik Jobert, Karla Kovacevic, Léo Mazurek, Philip Niekamp, Yuichiro Suzuki
Consultants
Bollinger + Grohmann (structure, mechanics)
295

Ministry of Finances Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Civic

Competition

Competition

2021

79.000

Located in the heart of the government district, the site is situated at the intersection of two differently-oriented parts of the city. The design primarily aims to mediate between these two different environments by addressing both, yet at the same time giving the site a clear identity. The two buildings are conceived as two similar, compact structures, but they identify their own specific relationships to the base and the city. The atrium building, a low structure punctuated by large openings facing Harold Street, sits directly on top of the base, establishing an immediate connection with its first floor surroundings. The high-rise, on the other hand, supported by its own core, presents itself as a floating lighthouse. The tension between these two orthogonal building volumes also provides unexpected perspectives on the city, achieved through large open windows with gardens. The purpose of raising this building is twofold: to create a new landmark, and to free up space above the base to make it publicly accessible and fully open to daylight.
The plinth is the direct translation of a natural landscape into a new building form that allows the programmatic organization of the shared and special services, the publicly accessible catering area, the conference rooms, and the library. The main entrance is situated central in between the 2 buildings as the extension of “Green Harold’s Bay”. Through a wide gate, the central patio in the plinth is reached, where the main entrances to the FM Building (high-rise) and the 2nd and 3rd users building (Atrium building) are situated. The tower features two special outdoor spaces: a large loggia (a window facing the Rhine) and a sheltered, lushly landscaped roof terrace. Users of the atrium building benefit from intersecting voids: a vertical shaft that terminates at the ground floor entrance atrium, and two large horizontal openings at the front and rear that bring even more daylight inside and encourage connections to the outside. The atrium building also provides the above-ground parking garage as a flexible base for future office space expansion, taking into account future changes in traffic circulation.

Location
Düsseldorf
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2021
Size (m²)
79.000

Client
Ministry of Finance of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Johan Cool, Marie Debraine, Nathalie Devoghelaere, Philip Niekamp, Jonathan Robert Maj, Federico Pedrini
Consultant
Bollinger+Grohmann (structure, mechanics)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
294

ESCP

Paris

Civic

Competition

Competition

2021

28.000

The ESCP Paris Campus site has never stopped evolving during the 200 years of its existence. Our ambition, in the face of this constant change, is the one to create a distinctive identity for the future ESCP Paris République Campus.
The set of buildings is conceived as being be composed by different, intertwined parts forming a coherent whole.
Unlike the current situation, however, the peculiarity of each part will go hand in hand with the complex overall functioning. The three large voids, corresponding to the three current courtyards, hence become new spaces with a strong characterisation: the Garden, the Courtyard and the Atrium.
The construction of a new building replacing the one from the ‘70s has many advantages: it makes the school less imposing in relation to the neighbourhood, it allows the addition of a secondary access and opens up common activities (catering areas, amphitheatre and coworking) from the ground floor to the surroundings.
An extra wide corridor open to the outside moreover gives access to the various functions of the school as well as allowing for informal meetings: we called this space “the gateway”.
The last three floors of this building - under a glass roof conforming to the Haussmann template – finally form the signal volume, that looks upon the landscape of the roofs of Paris.

Location
Paris
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2021
Size (m²)
28.000

Client
CCI-Paris Ile-de-France
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Vincent Blactot, Rémy Carat, Elena Caruso, Antoine Chaudemanche, Chloé De Salins, Marie Debraine, Nenad Duric, Eleonor Ferragu, Dana Smetankova, Ulysse Zehnlé
Consultants
Bollinger+Grohmann (structure)
Alto Ingénierie (mechanical)
Eco+Construire (economy)
Jeudi Wang + XDGA (image + video)
281

Regione Sicilia HQ

Palermo

Civic

Competition

Competition

2021

160.000

The project calls for building half of the functional programme above ground, the other half underground. Instead of building an underground programmatic plate, we propose a negative urban space, a small piece of underground city, carved and modulated on the urban warp characteristic of Sicilian cities, from Palermo to Avola, but built from top to bottom.
The excavation corresponds to about four floors. These inverted buildings are then separated and organised on an orthogonal grid oriented NW SE, all gathered around a large tree-lined public space, square in shape and placed in the centre.
The large garden square, an oasis of eighty-one metres on each side, acts as a point of convergence of all flows: the connection to the nearby railway station arrives here and the main entrances to the various functions, including the office reception, face here.
On the north side of the square stands the large volume that will house the new regional administrative headquarters, a forty-two-storey parallelepiped with a base of eighty-one metres by thirty-two and fifty-five metres high.
The volume is served by four central distribution cores that also function as bracing pillars. The result is a slender shape, elongated from east to west, which optimises solar exposure.
This crystalline monolith is interrupted by a large void at mid-height, which divides it into two sections to accommodate a raised belvedere terrace. Structurally, the upper part is suspended from the central cores.
The parallelepiped is thus broken down into a stereoscopic image which gives the building four distinct characters depending on the cardinal point of observation.
To the south a double skin composed of ten 8.1m wide vertical bands, every second of which is a veranda. The other facades are triple-glazed curtainwalls to maximise indirect daylight. To the north the bands are horizontal, one transparent and one in opaque enamelled glass. To the east and west the glazing has cladding.

Location
Palermo
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2021
Size (m²)
160.000

Client
Regione Sicilia
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Federico Pedrini, Doug Allard, Elena Caruso, Anne-Sophie Rouillere, Catherine Cornu, Johan Cool, Menelik Jobert, Nathalie Devoghelaere, Philip Niekamp
Consultants
MJW (structure)
Mate Engineering (mechanical, local architects)
TRT (traffic and mobility)
Transsolar (sustainability)
Images
Mir, XDGA
278

De Swaef

Brussels

Education

Competition, 1st Prize

Ongoing

2021–

13.700

Located in the heart of the residential district of Scheut, the large Leopold de Swaef site will host two new schools and several new indoor and outdoor sports facilities.
The architectural and landscape project is concentrated around the perimeter of the plot, thus becoming part the large-block fabric characterising the Scheut district. The layout of the volumes alternates between full and empty, creating a balance between open and closed spaces, between the urban scale and the domestic one. This "built periphery" surrounds a Large Garden, a central space around which all the buildings are articulated and connected by a covered gallery, that acts as a filter between interior and exterior. In the northern part of the site, a triangular square is created to accommodate the flows of the various users of the site but also activities for the inhabitants of the district.
The logic of the project was directed towards the constitution of an urban form capable of bringing together all the institutions involved and of stimulating interaction between them while, at the same time, guaranteeing potential for future extension. A system where the whole is worth more than the sum of the parts.

Location
Brussels
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Ongoing
Year
2021–
Size (m²)
13.700

Client
Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Chloé de Salins, Marie Debraine
Consultants
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Util (structure)
Boydens Bureau bouwtechniek (mechanics)
Daidalos Peutz (acoustics)
Tractebel (mobility)
Speculoos (signalisation)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
Illustration
Eva Le Roi
276

Van Overbeke

Brussels

Residential

Competition

Competition

2020

14.000

XDGA’s proposal embraces the heritage of Ganshoren by happily adopting the bird's wing layout resulting from the subdivision permit, and by exploiting the typological and spatial qualities that derive from such configuration. Contemporary issues, such as sustainability and new ways of living, are subsequently brought into the picture.
The volumetry is a hybridization of the fabrics spotted in the surroundings: it is juxtaposition of a slightly curved bar that dialogues with the other towers on the scale of the district, and an active base made up of one-storey pavilions, designed on the scale of the neighborhood.
The nursery, the community hall and the indoor sports equipment, arranged in "pavilions" and in continuity with the public space, in fact, go beyond the imposed building line in order to get closer to the street, liven up the park and thus radiate in the neighborhood.
The proposal is ultimately the result of a reflection on collective housing, a topic that requires a profound revision at a time when the border between professional and domestic spheres is thin, lifestyles are diversifying and the ways of working, living, cooking and having fun are being transformed by the increasing digitization of our daily lives.

Location
Brussels
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2020
Size (m²)
14.000

Client
SRLB (Société du Logement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale)
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Chloé de Salins, Jacqueline De Souza Ludivice, Marie Debraine, Nathalie Devoghelaere, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Willem Van Besien
Consultants
Bollinger+Grohmann (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (techniques, EPB)
Atelier Miething Paysage (landscape)
Enthalpie (security)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
270

X24 Rectorate of Créteil

Cretéil

Civic

Competition

Competition

2020

21.000

In order to accommodate the Rectorate of the Academy of Créteil, we sought to imagine a building that would balance expressionism and pragmatism.
We believe that the project should, in fact, rediscover that breath of modernity of the buildings that make up the landscape of Créteil, while managing to create a new identity.
The materialisation of the project is, in this respect, essential. Concrete, of which we appreciate the plastic quality, would be too connoted; wood as a cladding material for the façade would risk being too fragile, both from a technical and a symbolic standpoint. We finally opted for a generalised use of glass and aluminium.
If we put forward the pragmatism dictating our choices, it is because we have conceived this project as an exemplary tool. The plan is regulated to adapt the building to its site: 4 straight angles and 2 arcs of circle are enough to build its geometry. A structural grid made out of wooden columns and slabs guarantees flexibility to the interior spaces and their future evolution.
In this case the building, in accordance with the request of the town planners, is constructed by layers. Three layers. The plinth is conceived as a solid, dark element that is more reflective than a matt mineral treatment but is just as durable. The body, slightly coloured and transparent, reveals the activity taking place inside the building. Finally the crown, the line of contact with the sky, which we propose covered in a reflective glass that mirrors the sky itself and dissolves the building into the atmosphere.
The design of the working spaces is none other than the result of a larger strategy. Wellbeing on the workplace involves creating the conditions for comfort in terms of light, acoustics, climate and a series of psychological factors. The outdoor spaces extending from the offices such as terraces, loggias and galleries are all places to meet, walk and work. They are as adaptable as their interior counterpart and can accommodate new working practices. Gardens furthermore develop from the very bottom up until the floors of the galleries. The whole forms a supplementary layer of the project, the substrate of its acceptance. We named it the ‘negotiated layer’, because it adapts according to uses, it offers a variety of natural environments, alongside with conditions of calm or even unexpected relations.

Location
Cretéil
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2020
Size (m²)
21.000

Client
Rectorate of the Academy of Créteil
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer de Geyter, Vincent Blactot, Antoine Chaudemanche, Chloé De Salins, Marie Debraine, Ménélik Jobert, Leo Mazurek, Philip Niekamp, Matthias Van Rossen, Samia Wahbi, Ulysse Zehnlé
Consultants
Bollinger+Grohmann (structure)
Alto Ingénierie (mechanical)
Eco+Construire (quantity surveyor)
Ecome (environment)
Made by Mistake + XDGA (model)
Peutz (acoustics)
TP WorkUnit (workplace design)
Images
ArtefactoryLab
268

Smart Manufacturing Campus

Genk

Commercial

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2020–2024

35.520

The Smart Manufacturing Campus houses companies and institutions working in the field of smart technology. The project is conceived as a fully modular, flexible building in which the units of independent companies can be (re)arranged, expanded or reduced.
On the ground floor of the building are located all the production and storage spaces, easily reachable by heavy machinery and vehicles through a column-free inner street.
On the upper level, the offices are housed around patios that not only create outdoor -or indoor- spaces for the staff, yet allow light to enter the deep interiors of the underlying workshops.

Location
Genk
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2020–2024
Size (m²)
35.520

Client
MoThor NV (with: LRM, StadGenk, HWW)
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Joris De Greef, Nicolas Duerinck, Arie Gruijters, Yasmine Houari
Consultants
Bollinger & Grohmann (structure)
SWECO (mechanics)
Daidalos-Peutz (acoustics)
VK architects and engineers (fire-competition phase)
Photos
Severin Malaud
267

Leisure Centre Izegem

Izegem

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2019

8.170

The existing Strobbe industrial building constitutes a recognizable feature in the city of Izegem.
Its architectural and spatial qualities call for a ’Tabula Plena’ approach, one that would value and preserve as much of the existing as possible, and would therefore prove to be environmentally and economically sustainable.
Specifically, the flexibility and character of the existing sheds, seem fit to host the so called 'Cultural Factory' (studios, archives and administration), while a limited amount of new construction would have to be planned for more specific parts of the program, such as the library hosted in the tower, the auditorium and the exhibition spaces.
On a wider scale, the strategy includes the creation of a new public route (‘culture street’) connecting the heart of this city block with the city centre and the new park/city quarter on the south, thus creating a network of relevant existing buildings.

Location
Izegem
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2019
Size (m²)
8.170

Client
City of Izegem
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer de Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Elena Caruso, Catherine Cornu, Philip Niekamp, Wouter Van Daele
Consultants
Bollinger + Grohmann (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (techniques)
Daidalos-Peutz (acoustics)
266

Arena BSB

Brasilia

Urban

Competition

Competition

2019

285.000

The main characteristic of Brasilia's urban landscape is the dialogue between the four scales proposed by Lucio Costa in the Plano Piloto: Monumental, Gregarious, Residential and Bucolic.
The proposal for the Arena BSB Complex integrates the bucolic scale of the city and emphasizes the idea of the “park city” idealized by Lucio Costa. The new buildings are objects, surrounded by local green areas, creating an intermediate density permeated by spaces that work at the pedestrian scale and connect the various uses of the Complex.
The project had to take into consideration some objects already existing on the site such as: the National Stadium of Brasilia Mané Garrincha, the multi-sports complex Ginásio Nilson Nelson, and the Cláudio Coutinho water park. Each of these elements had its own flow system that somehow needed to be integrated into the new proposal.
The masterplan for the Complex was conceived as an overlay of four layers:
The first of these is the Boulevard. The Boulevard is the backbone of the Complex, along which run the pedestrian route and underground parking areas. This element connects the various proposed uses: sports, health, leisure and entertainment. The Boulevard route maintains a solemn distance from the Stadium, which stands out as the protagonist in the landscape. This distance furthermore gives room to create large plazas and intermediate parks;
The second layer consists of the volumes of the new buildings that find place along the Boulevard, following its curves. In these buildings is distributed most of the program with restaurants, bars, leisure, entertainment, sports, and offices;
The third layer shows the empty pathways that cut through the volumes of buildings connecting the northern and southern areas of the project;
The fourth and last layer contains the areas of the buildings with specific uses, which touch or cross the Boulevard and hold unique shapes that make them stand out in the Complex. These are the Aquarium, the Organic Market and the Cinema.

Location
Brasilia
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2019
Size (m²)
285.000

Client
Arena BSB
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Elena Caruso, Menelik Jobert, Jacqueline Luduvice, Philip Niekamp, Greta Torsello
Consultants
Atelier 77 (local architects)
Fernando Cunha (renders)
264

Estavayer Amplifiée

Estavayer-le-Lac

Residential

Competition

Competition

2021

15.730

Each island is composed of a platform on which the buildings are arranged. These platforms, densely vegetated, fit into the topography by creating varied access situations.
Within the logic of creating a new urban continuity between the station and the city centre, the public space is designed as a generous unitary space, punctuated by a series of smaller squares and vegetation. The continuous materiality of the ground favours instinctive paths for the different users (travellers, passers-by, inhabitants) on which the different functions of the site cohabit (multimodal relay hub with the city, domestic scale of access to housing).
The volumes arranged on the platforms are orthogonal and of various sizes, thus fitting into the pre-existing urban fabric and offering various types of housing, from studios to townhouses, all of which benefit from a double orientation. The layout of the volumes make it possible to offer broad views and optimal sun orientation.
The services and shops on the ground floor have furthermore been arranged along the main pedestrian axes to animate the paths of passers-by, while the signal plot bordering the bus station accommodates the offices.
The architectural language of the facades is deliberately sober and dual: the platforms on the one hand, thought of as a solid, dark and mineral base and the volumes, on the other hand, cladded with different shades light of enamelled glass.

Location
Estavayer-le-Lac
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2021
Size (m²)
15.730

Client
City of Estavayer-le-Lac
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Rémy Carat, Antoine Chaudemanche, Thaïs de Roquemaurel, Chloé de Salins, Marie Debraine, Dana Smetankova
Consultants
Edifea (general contractor, structure & supervision)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Photos and Video
Maxime Delvaux
263

CCN

Brussels

Civic

Competition

Competition

2019

132.000

The site’s context presents a clear paradox: on the one hand, it is one of the most infrastructurally-connected areas in Brussels, while on the other hand, it lacks coherent public and pedestrian connections. The train station, metro stop and bus terminal are all hidden by one main building - the CCN building - that blocks entrances and impedes fluxes. The existing bus terminal manifests itself as a strong buffer that kills any attempt to open some program on the ground floor. With its raised plinth, in fact, access to all major public and commercial programme located in the existing building is rendered arduous. Our task was to invert the definition of this space, allocate a large public space for pedestrians, and integrate the bus terminal within the plinth. Lifting the main part of the building allowed us to create a deep, continuous public path crossing the whole plot to access the station directly and creating, at the same time, a gentle friction and exchange between the train station, the bus terminal and the metro stop. The proposed feet of the towers all contain commercial programme. The cafeteria and bicycle parking are facing the square towards the train station. A shopping mall and a market hall are closing the space on the northern part of the plot, and open in continuity with a park, they are all addressing the local, small scale of this part of the city.
The main lifted slab hosts a public programme, readable through its green coloured glass. It connects to the other side of the city, a side that is today strongly isolated by the train tracks and the station itself. Its specific open and transparent design offers panoramic views on this part of town. The housing units and hotel are located on the side of the project, contained in the towers, that offer great views and exterior spaces with a 270° panorama. The offices enjoy a very rational and generic layout, while the middle slab is punctuated by large patios and additional specific programme.

Location
Brussels
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2019
Size (m²)
132.000

Client
AXA, AG RE, Atenor
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Antoine Chaudemanche, Joris de Greef, Arie Gruijters, Ménélik Jobert, Gaspard Lévêque, Hannelore Thomas
Consultants
Tractebel (mobility)
CityTools (participation)
Kaderstudio (architecture, interior)
MAD (workplace)
BXL MRS (economics, sustainability)
Accattone (public art)
Photos
XDGA - Matthias Van Rossen
261

El Croquis

Madrid

Publication

Commission

Published

2019–2020

–

This monograph focuses on the work accomplished by Xaveer De Geyter Architects between 2005 and 2020, office founded by this Belgian architect in 1991.
Xaveer de Geyter (Doornik - Belgium, 1957) graduated at the Architecture Institute St. Lucas in Ghent in 1981. After that, he started working at Rem Koolhaas' office (OMA) in Rotterdam, until 1991, when he founded his own office.
At the same time, he has been working as a teacher in the school where he obtained his degree. He has also worked as visiting and guest professor at the Berlage Institute, Delft, Netherlands (1993-2003), the EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland (2004) and the ETH, Zurich, Switzerland (2016).
The office Xaveer De Geyter Architects has won several international competitions, as well as numerous awards throughout its trajectory, including the Flemish Culture Award for Architecture in 2014, the Mies van der Rohe award in 2003 and the Charles Wilford Prize in the years 1993 and 1992.
(from: El Croquis, press release)

Location
Madrid
Type
Publication
Procedure
Commission
Status
Published
Year
2019–2020
Size (m²)
–

Architects
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, Marc Dessauvage, Jonathan Robert Maj
Publisher
El Croquis
260

Citydox

Brussels

Residential

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2019–2025

25.000

The project superposes a programme of productive activities and housing; in between, on the first floor, an intermediate layer of parking acts as a "buffer zone" between the two.
This, asides from responding to a high groundwater table, protects residents from possible nuisances caused by the productive activities located on the ground floor, while providing both functions with a potential flexible space for future expansion.
On the "macro" scale, the project sets out a series of urban principles aimed at generating coherence between the three plots (plots 4, 5 and 6) located on this strip of land flanking the Brussels canal, while on the "micro" scale, their diversity is preserved.
The respect of the building envelopes and the position of the volumes on the plinth ensure, in fact, a harmonious relationship between the three towers facing the water, whereas the individual expression of the facades facilitates the legibility of each element of the composition.

Location
Brussels
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2019–2025
Size (m²)
25.000

Client
Atenor
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition:
Xaveer De Geyter, Vincent Blactot, Karel Bruyland, Remy Carat, Antoine Chaudemanche, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Marie Debraine, Jan Krupicka, Gaspard Leveque, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Emma Vanhille, Dana Vargovcikova, Rui Zenha
definitive design:
Xaveer De Geyter, Karel Bruyland, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Catherine Cornu, Hanne Defloor, Nicolas Duerinck, Nenad Duric, Jan Krupicka, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Hannelore Thomas, Willem Van Besien
execution design: Xaveer De Geyter, Karel Bruyland, Nenad Duric, Willem Van Besien, Ulysse Zehnlé
Consultants
CSD (structure, techniques)
D2S (acoustics)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
259

Morcote

Morcote

Urban

Competition

Competition

2019

230.000

Morcote is a small town overlooking Lake Lugano, locked in between the water and the slopes of Mount Arbòstora.
Though being largely praised for its beauty, the town has unfortunately suffered from years of unwise interventions, that have compromised a direct relationship with the water and have left behind a rather fragmented series of open spaces.
The proposal hence aims at providing the town with a coherent and unitary image through the design of intelligible public spaces, while safeguarding and enhancing the existing qualities of the place.
Specifically, the strategy relies on creating a novel accessibility system, able to link and experience the three main elements present in the landscape: the Lake, the gardens and the monumental complex situated higher up on the mountain.
The lakefront is rendered easily accessible from the town centre by favouring pedestrian use and by creating larger gathering spaces (Piazza del Mercato, Piazza Granda) that alternate with a number of platforms jutting out on the water, at different levels.
New paths (and a lift) are moreover foreseen to connect with the urban spaces situated on the mountain’s slope up North. Here, viewing balconies and ramps take the visitor through the terraced landscape of the gardens, a pattern of wine yards, orchards and urban gardens that culminates in the monumental complex, the historic and cultural heart of the town.

Location
Morcote
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2019
Size (m²)
230.000

Client
City of Morcote
Architects
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Rémy Carat, Elena Caruso, Greta Torsello
Consultants
Inside Outside (landscape)
Project Partners LTD (structure)
Francesco Allievi SA (mobility)
Pedrozzi Associati (geology)
257

Lens

Lens

Commercial

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2019–2024

7.994

The project, a series of three distinct volumes characterized by different heights and set back from each other, stands as a direct reaction to its surroundings.
On the south-east of the plot, the first volume lines up with the neighbouring building, a former medical office at Lens station, and sets in motion that subtle play of cusps towards rue Jean Létienne that culminates on the north-west side, in alignment with the adjacent mixed-use development.
On a programmatic level, the project proposes a horizontal partition into four layers: the basement is intended for parking; the ground floor houses the reception halls of the training centre, offices, the shop for the transport company as well as a café / restaurant; the upper floors accommodate the premises of the training centre and offices.
By virtue of its programming and location, the ground floor enables the bordering public spaces to be activated through both a fifteen meter wide urban breakthrough connecting rue Jean Létienne with the bus station, and a covered gallery offering shelter to public transport users.
Lastly, the project's stepped volumetry and the integration of techniques into the building envelope free up large sunny outdoor areas for the occupants to enjoy, while the wooden structure and aluminium cladding give shape to an elegant and light ensemble.

Location
Lens
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2019–2024
Size (m²)
7.994

Client
Tereneo
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Antoine Chaudemanche, Marie Debraine, Jan Krupička
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Jérémie Brault, Antoine Chaudemanche, Beatrice Colaiacomo
execution: Xaveer De Geyter, Jérémie Brault, Beatrice Colaiacomo
Consultants
Ingébois (wood stability)
Descamps Ingénierie (concrete stability)
Econrjbat (mechanics)
Akoustik ingénierie & conseil (acoustics)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen (model)
256

Charleroi Mambourg

Charleroi

Urban

Study

Completed

2019–2021

900.000

This study anticipates the development of a new legal framework for the Mambourg Sector, consistent with the vision of the City of Charleroi and of the many public and private players involved.
This ambition is formalized through 4 major general strategies and 6 sub-sectors, that allow for greater flexibility and the integration of uncertainties.
The project ultimately develops sector by sector and articulates a series of buildings with various programs (public, private, housing, universities) developping around a structuring public axis leading from the lower town to Gilly on the one hand, and around the Parc Hiernaux on the other.

Location
Charleroi
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2019–2021
Size (m²)
900.000

Client
LGSIB S.A. + Ville de Charleroi
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Maud Bouhin, Elena Caruso, Antoine Chaudemanche, Thaïs de Roquemaurel, Eleonor Ferragu, Menelik Jobert, Jacqueline Luduvice, Leo Mazurek, Federico Pedrini, Anne-Sophie Rouillère
Consultants
Citytools (concertation)
Une Fabrique de la Ville (programmation)
255

Mobilis

Brussels

Commercial

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2018–2024

27.800

The client for this building is a car import and dealer company that is fully aware of the deep change and uncertainty the automotive sector will be facing. To put it mildly, electric cars need less maintenance, showrooms are being replaced by websites and the sharing economy is taking over ownership in favour of mobility as a service. Despite this, a very large car workshop and showrooms for different brands are still part of the program, as are a series of productive spaces that will complement the nature of this dynamic neighbourhood situated along the Brussels Canal. What is needed here is not so much a building that can be endlessly adapted to new uses, but a structure that can accommodate any activity; a building type in which landscape, urban density, logistics and architecture merge into one is therefore proposed. On the inside is a rational, high-load bearing concrete structure with 16.2 meters floor spans and a height of 7 meters to which, if needed, intermediate steel floors can be hung. On the outside, on the other hand, the sturdiness of the structure is balanced out by the curvy, transparent façades (glass on the south-east side, steel cables and mesh on the north-west side) resulting from the movements of cars and trucks on site, the bending of the main road and the amorphous boundary of the plot. A series of patios and atriums ultimately pierce the large volume providing the space and quiet that are lacking on the outside.

Location
Brussels
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2018–2024
Size (m²)
27.800

Client
D’ieteren Immo
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Lieven De Boeck, Chloe de Salins, Lukas Fink, Jan Krupicka, Emilia Ockerman
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Annelotte Herrebosch, Emilia Ockerman, with David Ampe, Lionel Bousquet, Marie Debraine, Hanne Defloor, Joris De Greef, Chloé de Salins, Lukas Fink, Yuichiro Suzuki, Yannick Vergnaud, Dana Smetankova
Consultants
Util Struktuurstudies (structure)
SWECO (techniques)
Daidalos Peutz bouwfysisch ingenieursbureau (acoustics)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
Marco Cappelletti
252

Isotropolis

Bratislava

Residential

Competition

Competition

2018

244.458

While the Isotropolis complex enjoys a strategic location in the city of Bratislava at 20 minutes by foot from the historic centre, in the vicinity of the future Filialka train station and of the soon- to-be renovated market hall, it is also plagued by a mixture of negative connotations linked to the communist era and by the very tangible limits imposed by the surrounding mobility infrastructures.
The site essentially presents itself today as an outdated, introverted enclave that nevertheless bears the potential to become a hotspot thanks to the 36000 daily users of the adjacent underground gallery, the development of a new train station for suburban trains and its connection to the new Trnavske myto.
To be successful in this transformation process, however, it seems paramount to ensure a great degree of porosity to the whole site; this is made possible by organising the required mixed-use programme in a series of “studs” or “towers” standing on a continuous, public realm that articulates the main pedestrian flows and connections.

Location
Bratislava
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
244.458

Client
Immocap Group
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele, Antoine Barth, Marie Debraine, Lukas Fink, Jan Krupička, Dana Smetanková, Yannick Vergnaud
Consultants
Immocap (Real Estate)
YIT (developper)
251

Loi 130

Brussels

Urban

Competition

Competition

2018

169.300

Close to the other EU Institutional buildings, the LOI130 project is to become the Administrative Headquarters of the EU. The sheer vastness of this venue begs for the question: how to integrate such an XXL premise in a neighbourhood that wants to be urban, mixed and lively throughout the day, while creating an Institution that is less hermetic towards its surroundings?
In order to achieve this ambition, the central element of the project is a large, glazed, collective Void that crosses the entire site. It reveals the internal life of the Headquarter, connects all the elements of the project and lends itself to open programming.
The complex is essentially articulated in four parts: a base, low and mid raises, four high-rises and the Void. All parts and programmes (offices, visitor centre, the Day Nurseries and the Catering) are connected to and articulated around the Void.
A series of public spaces furthermore animate the project and favour the relation with the context:
- a pedestrian and bicycle Passage cutting the midrise building volumes, intervalled by the retails and the main entrances to the EU Commission.
- a large, column free gallery space mediates between Rue de la Loi and the building volume.
- a garden on the level of the Chaussée d’Etterbeek, that hosts the metro entrance, forms a spatial unity with the Jardin de Maelbeek, as well as a forecourt to the Visitor Center inside.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
169.300

Client
European Commission, ec.europa.eu
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), Gigon&Guyer, BRUTHER
for XDGA: Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Vincent Blactot, Antoine Chaudemanche, Johan Cool, Chloe de Salins, Marie Debraine, Federico Pedrini, Hannelore Thomas
Consultants
Bollinger-Grohmann (structure)
Boydens (mechanics)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Transsolar (sustainability)
NZEB (Energy)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
Images
Artefactorylab
248

RITCS

Brussels

Education

Competition

Competition

2018

4.000

The environment of the Erasmus University of Applied Sciences at the Nijverheidskaai is in full transition. From a production district, the city's underbelly, she has evolved to a very mixed area, rough but lively. The site and the building complex of the school itself are autonomous and even defensive in that environment.
The addition of a film studio and a theatre to this complex is a great opportunity to revise both the relationship with the neighbourhood and the organization of the school itself. We propose a grid plan in which building parts are interspersed with open spaces.
Within this master plan, it is therefore logical to propose a compact building for the film studio and theatre that is installed separately behind the existing entrance building. All major functions are stacked one above the other to a height of almost forty meters. On the ground floor there is a film studio, above three floors of smaller studios and at the top, with a view of Brussels, the theatre.
The building will manifestly be present in the neighbourhood and within the campus; because of its height, but also because of the strong contrast between open and closed parts, because of the moving goods lift within a translucent volume. In addition to the neighbourhood, but also out of economic necessity, the whole is made up of materials from industrial construction.
A limited part of the existing school will be renovated to house three studios.

Location
Brussels
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
4.000

Client
Erasmushogeschool
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Johan Cool, Lieven De Boeck, Karel Bruyland, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Emilia Ockerman, Hannelore Thomas
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical)
Daidalos Peutz (acoustics)
TTAS (scenography)
247

HEL Vinci School

Brussels

Education

Competition

Competition

2018

23.912

Three concerns are the basis of the design proposal for the new establishment.
Firstly, the programme of both schools is large, if compared to the size of the plot.
Secondly, it is desirable to preserve a public space on the scale of this important new program.
Finally, it is crucial to preserve an adequate distance between the new volume and the ESP building, thus facilitating a harmonious coexistence between the two.
To meet these functional and urban challenges, the project consists of a stepped volume, composed of three superimposed layers which are stacked so as to create a large outdoor space to the East on the ground floor.
On the other side, the building is gradually distanced from the ESP building, originating two long terraces.
The intersection between the different layers of the project is reinforced by two stepped skylights that cross the volume from East to West, that bring natural light inside the building and are visible from the forecourt. In the centre, a staircase leads to all floors from a large atrium. On the last level, roof terraces to the North and East are placed, hidden behind a metal mesh.
The project is composed of 5 levels above ground and 3 levels in the basement hosting the various programs.
These programs are divided into 3 layers within the building: public spaces on the ground floor and first level (lobby, Learning Center and the three auditoriums), private EPHEC spaces on the second level, and private premises of VINCI school from level three to five. The technical and service spaces (parking, archiving, etc.) are ultimately located in the basement.

Location
Brussels
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
23.912

Client
ASBL Haute Ecole Leonard de Vinci
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Pieter Coelis, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Chloé de Salins, Philip Niekamp, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Yannick Vergnaud
Consultants
Bollinger-Grohmann (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (techniques)
Daidalos-Peutz (acoustics)
Sécurisan (security)
246

City Gate

Brussels

Urban

Competition

Competition

2018

84.084

In continuity with the developments of the "Plan Canal", the project supports the formidable opportunities that come with a rapidly changing district, where the desired programmatic mix transforms the industrial character of the place while preserving part of its memory.
Here, industrial and infrastructural activities come together in the footsteps of an ancient alluvial plain to form a "small island", that is part of a wider constellation of activities.
Our proposal supports the urban and programmatic ambition envisioned by the plan, by enhancing the specific size of the plot and by promoting the encounter of different activities. The urban intervention, as well as the architectures associated with it, place at the centre of concerns the production of spaces offering great comfort of habitability combined with a strong flexibility of occupations.
The design of the project refers to the intermediate scale present on the site, between large commercial warehouses and neighbouring urban blocks. It is based on this scale in order to respond to the community of activities present on the site, while maintaining various ways of living according to current standards. While its different parts offer possibilities for simple and economical habitats, the project postulates on the exceptional character of the encounters between the different practices rather than the originality of its built forms.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
84.084

Client
Marché de service conjoint SLRB/citydev.brussels
Architects
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), Baukunst, Bruther
Consultants
Mouton SCRI (structure)
Igrec Ingéniérie SAS – France (mechanics)
Photos
Baukunst
245

Extensa Tour & Taxis

Brussels

Civic

Competition

Discontinued

2018

68.235

The request for this competition is the one to design a new building for the administration of the Flemish Government in Belgium. Instead of proposing an introverted, mono-functional block, we propose to create a multi-functional complex comprising of offices, housing, and facilities that can be accessed by residents, employees, and the public alike.
On the ground floor, between the lobby and meeting spaces, a stepping green canyon piercing through the building and connecting the different programs finds its place.
On the eighteenth floor, on top of the offices, is a resort with an indoor and outdoor space, a private and a public part and a cantilever on the east side, while on the nineteenth floor a residential tower is planned. This is organized around a central core, with 6 to 10 apartments per floor and a series of winter gardens providing outdoor space.
Finally on the top floor, at a height of 150 meters, is a viewpoint over the city skyline.

Location
Brussels
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Discontinued
Year
2018
Size (m²)
68.235

Client
private
Architect
XDGA
Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, David Ampe, Lionel Bousquet, Karel Bruyland, Pieter Coelis, Johan Cool, Joris De Greef, Hanne Defloor, Nenad Duric, Emilia Ockerman, Hannelore Thomas, Willem Van Besien
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
CES, Boydens (technical)
244

ZHAW

Winterthur

Education

Competition

Competition

2018

15.600

The ZHAW area is relatively limited to absorb all the functions required.
Therefore, the master plan envisages the re-establishment of an essential campus structure with free-standing buildings. The potential of an open campus is furthermore expressed in a new continuous garden area which will become an integral part of the project.
Both buildings conceived require the maximum volume allowed to accommodate all the necessary spaces, yet maintaining individual architectural expressions.
The proposal envisages the TLN building as horizontally offset volumes within a simple glass shell and a central atrium bringing light to both the laboratories and the workshops. The TLN2 building, on the other hand, is shown as a zig-zag volume with free floors that can be switched according to the respective uses, wrapped at the back by a facade-wide core.

Location
Winterthur
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
15.600

Client
Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Building Authority Canton of Zurich
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Barth, Marie Debraine, Arie Gruijters, Ménélik Jobert, Yuichiro Suzuki, Yannick Vergnaud
Consultants
Topotek Berlin (landscape)
Topotek Zurich (architecture)
EBP (engineering)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
242

Ostend Social Housing Quarter

Ostend

Residential

Competition

Competition

2018

52.000

The existing social housing estate, called ‘New City’, has all the qualities of a typical modernist project: large, green open spaces around high-rise apartment buildings with great views, lots of daylight and rather big terraces.
The existing architecture of ‘New City’, however, also exhibits the problematic sides of a typical modernistic project : a green space with no differentiation nor character, a weak link with the surrounding neighbourhoods, a limited amount of housing typologies, and a poor relation of the buildings with the ground level.
The new project will replace the existing buildings while adding extra apartments and programs to the site. In addition, the problematic sides of modernism will be confronted. To do so, we propose three main strategies:
1. Constructing layered and varied public space;
A central square usable and accessible to a wider audience, surrounded by public programs, workplaces and commercial spaces. A series of specific landscape elements instead of the existing, generic greenery. A new high-rise plan that opens up to the surroundings.
2. A quality of living that takes into account the limitations of social housing budgets and regulations, but uses the winter garden as a tool to create extra spatial quality and surface;
3. A plan that allows the whole project to be built in only one phase, in order to limit the inconvenience for the residents and the surroundings.

Location
Ostend
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
52.000

Client
De Oostendse Haard and De Gelukkige Haard
Architect
XDGA – Xaveer De Geyter Architects
Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Karel Bruyland, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Lieven De Boeck, Jacqueline De Souza Luduvice, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Hannelore Thomas, Rui Zenha
Consultants
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Bollinger + Grohmann (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanics)
241

UCBM

Rome

Education

Competition

Competition

2018

190.000

Situated on the outskirts of Rome, the masterplan for this bio-medical campus has interesting landscape and topography, and a large hospital building as starting points.
The central element that is proposed is a monumental, linear void, a major public strip along which new buildings will be erected. It is north-south oriented in such a way as to give an address to the hospital. A series of premises of different scale and program will be gradually built around it.
On the other side of this pedestrian green, a new first phase building is imagined, similar in scale, but quite different as a typology. It consists of a two levelled disk of 137 x 103 meters, irregularly perforated by twelve patios, that is elevated above a public space, thus protecting it and creating a moderate outside climate for students, doctors, researchers and visitors to informally meet each other. Some programmatic elements, such as the university restaurant, a bookshop, an arts center, a central access lobby, and several elevator cores inhabit this ground-floor space. The topography remains intact, so that an existing hill at the south end of the strip seems to support the disk. It serves as a natural access to a student housing segment in the new building. The disk includes all of the first phase program: alongside the student housing there will be a mix of educational, administrative, research, sports and other campus life related functions. The façades are marked by a very regular rhythm of structural concrete slabs that span both floors, leaving 60% of the façade open. Set back by two meters is a fully glazed façade, thus creating a second plan not only to settle all irregularities coming from the inside program, but equally providing loggia spaces and an efficient sun protection for the entire building.

Location
Rome
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
190.000

Client
UCBM, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Barth, Elena Caruso, Lieven De Boeck, Marie Debraine, Chloé De Salins, Mar Garrido, Jan Krupicka, Jacqueline Luduvice, Philip Niekamp, Federico Pedrini, Hannah Perrino, Greta Torsello
Consultants
Studio Altieri (structure)
Studio Altieri (mechanics)
Studio Altieri (acoustics)
Transsolar (sustainability)
Bureau Bas Smets (landscape)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
240

Cargill Headquarters

Vilvoorde

Commercial

Competition, 1st Prize

Discontinued

2018–2020

35.000

Since the late seventies the Canal area in Vilvoorde has been transforming from a typical 19th century industrial conurbation into a stretch of green urbanism. What used to be a dense mixture of warehouses, workspaces, housing boroughs and seldom remnants from previous centuries, has now become a configuration of freestanding volumes, mostly housing, on a green carpet with public space all around. Former backyard extensions are now fronts and need to address the park.
Apart from this urban transition, the main objective of the project is to create connectivity and collaboration between Cargill and its customers and visitors, between the Headquarters Offices and the R&D center, between Product Development and ‘Go To Market’ Development, and ultimately between all the different departments. In order to make this possible an elevated, interior street connecting the existing buildings with the new programs is proposed.
It does not only connect, yet it is also a showcase for the Cargill products and production methods. This central device ends up on the north side in a circular shaped restaurant, while on the southside it leads into a new main building, where the street expands into a vast, terraced landscape that functions as a large open work and meeting space, and that connects the new departments.
This Headquarters Building is a very compact and sustainable volume that houses most of the required program. As seen from the front, the diagonally stepped open space cuts across the volume. It is illuminated by an atrium above and it is set back from the front facade to offer an equally stepped terrace. While this part is in transparent glass, the volume beneath is clad in translucent glass and houses the Application Center. The offices, behind a façade made in black glass, are situated on top.

Location
Vilvoorde
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Discontinued
Year
2018–2020
Size (m²)
35.000

Client
Cargill
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Johan Cool, Lieven De Boeck, Joris De Greef, Ménélik Jobert, Emilia Ockerman, Greta Torsello
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Joris De Greef and Arie Gruijters, with Doug Allard, David Ampe, Nenad Duric, Mar Garrido, Ménélik Jobert, Yuichiro Suzuki, Hannelore Thomas, Matthias Van Rossen, Rui Zenha
execution design (tender): Xaveer De Geyter, Joris De Greef, Arie Gruijters, with Doug Allard, David Ampe, Nenad Duric, Mar Garrido, Ménélik Jobert, Hannelore Thomas, Rui Zenha
Consultants
Sweco (structure, mechanical, lab engineer, sustainability)
XDGA (landscape)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
239

Hôtel PEX

Toulouse

Commercial

Competition, 1st Prize

Discontinued

2018

14.500

The Toulouse Expo and Convention Center is a newly built complex in the vicinity of the airport and the airplane manufacturing industry. In this context of large scale infrastructure, the demand is to add two hotels. Although security measures tend to obstruct any kind of relation between the hotels and the Expo, the urban form that is proposed suggests the opposite.
Instead of a self-sufficient urban block, a diagonally cross-shaped form opens up four quadrants towards all sides. One is an elevated forecourt and restaurant terrace with monumental stairs and a ramp leading to the hotel lobby. The second one is purely logistic: delivery, kiss & ride for both hotels, parking access. An open air parking under a pergola is planned on the westside, while the fourth quadrant is a hotel garden. A claustra wall on the north and the west separates the hotel from the Expo Center.
The main hotel lobby is situated at the center of the cross over two floors. It gives access to three of the four wings. A five star hotel is situated in the south-east wing and has its access at the tip of the wing. The overall complex counts four floors, while the five star hotel has an additional roof pavillion. The roof is used for dining, swimming and sun-bathing. The second and third floor, which contain the majority of the rooms, are clad in horizontal bands of metal caillebotis, in order to unify the complex.

Location
Toulouse
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Discontinued
Year
2018
Size (m²)
14.500

Client
Kaufman & Broad Midi Pyrénées
Architect
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Joffrey About, Doug Allard, Karel Bruyland, Antoine Chaudemanche, Ménélik Jobert, Dana Vargovcikova
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Marie –Pierre Vandeputte, with Vincent Blactot, Lionel Bousquet, Jeremie Brault, Antoine Chaudemanche, Marie Debraine, Ménélik Jobert, Solène Le Gallo, Jacqueline Luduvice, Julien Picard, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Blanche Tauzin, Dana Vargovcikova, Simon Vellut, Rui Zenha
Consultants
OTEIS Toulouse (structure, mechanics)
ECOME (sustainability)
Atelier Justine Miething (landscape)
Gamba (acoustics)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
237

Conservatory

Brussels

Civic

Competition

Competition

2018

9.000

This long-awaited project for the Conservatory should essentially serve three purposes: the overall restoration of the existing components, the reorganization and expansion of the program as far as the location allows, and the improvement of the integration and visibility of the Conservatory in the Brussels city centre. The various outdoor spaces of the site are underused and have no proper relationship with each other. At the same time, the possibilities for expansion within the existing, largely protected environment are limited.
The starting point of our proposal is the replacement of the current library building, which is the part of the conservatory which has the least historical value. The library itself will be transferred to Wolstraat nr. 11 with the courtyard behind as a new reading room. Together they form the central pivot point of the entire campus. The main staircase is also being restored. The new buildings include the largest new volumes, such as the chamber music hall and the rehearsal room for symphonic orchestra, a cafeteria that gives view to two courtyards, percussion rooms and masterclasses on different floors and a belvedere at the highest level overlooking the Brussels roof landscape.
The new building is determined by its context but is at the same time very contemporary. The orthogonality of Cluysenaar's conservatory building is consistently maintained in the floor plans, while it is delineated towards the courtyard by the diagonal plot line, a remainder of the former Allegerbenstraat.

Location
Brussels
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
9.000

Client
KCB - CRB, Beliris
Architect
SumProject (lead architect, renovation/restoration)
XDGA (new construction)
Xaveer De Geyter, Joffrey About, Pieter Coelis, Chloé de Salins, Mar Garrido, Emilia Ockerman, Matthias Van Rossen
Consultants
Barbara Van Der Wee Architecten (restoration)
SWEC (mechanics)
Daidalos (scoustics)
Ney&Partners (structure)
A-RES (Project management)
235

Hôtel des Archives

Geneva

Civic

Competition

Competition

2018

8.500

The proposal questions in first instance the brief’s requirement to place the new archives of the City of Geneva underground. The Old Barrack’s site is, in fact, subject to the regular overflowing of the adjacent river and that would represent a great threat to the documents’ preservation.
The archives are thus stacked vertically and placed in the middle of the future garden; they rest on four black steel cruciform columns and are connected to the old building by a transparent pavilion.
This "bell tower", besides granting appropriate technical and climatic standards, ultimately assumes a symbolic meaning, as it values and exposes the city’s collective memory.
It does so by presenting itself as a slender, monolithic concrete volume wrapped by a transparent emergency staircase -which can also be used as a vertical promenade- and crowned by a publicly accessible roof terrace.
On the ground floor, the old aerial car park between the New Arsenal and the housing units will be completely transformed into a garden, accessible to the public but also accessible to housing and the city.
On the other hand, the interior spaces of the Arsenal are fully respected.
The entrance is at the level of the main central volume. It divides the plan into two parts: a north wing, accessible to the public, and a south wing which houses the restoration workshops. The library, exhibition hall, conference hall and access to the archives are therefore located in the north wing. The offices of the archivists and the director are concentrated on the first floor, above the reception, next to the garden. This allows independent access and simplified operation with Geneva state offices on both sides.

Location
Geneva
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2018
Size (m²)
8.500

Client
Ville de Genève
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Rui Zenha de Pinho, Mar Garrido
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
234

Waterfront Park and Marina

Vlora

Urban

Commission

Ongoing

2018–

373.500

If Vlora has one true potential hotspot, this is it. In the centre of the city’s coastline, at the end of the Boulevard and the Transbalkanike near starting point of the Vlora Waterfront Promenade lies a site with incredible potential. Currently a dead end – the closed off central port, the area should be the real front, the – international – face of the city of Vlora and the broader region. The Vlora Waterfront Promenade (Phase 1) has set in motion a much needed revival for Vlora’s waterfront. But in the centre of the 7 kilometre waterfront lies the real challenge for the promenade, and the city. How to create a continuous waterfront experience from east to west? How to develop an attractive neighbourhood in this former port area and remake the link between Vlora and the Mediterranean?
We believe that a project that combines the continuation of the promenade and an accessible water linked program can do the trick. Sheltered by the existing piers of the port, but with good access potential and situated in the magnificent bay of Vlora the main focus area shows enormous potential to house the first Vlora Marina. The Marine is fronted by both a new public park, and a private real estate development. Linked by a monumental gallery the projects unites ample public space and a unique waterfront development, making the most of the unique location in the centre of the city’s waterfront and surrounding the historical House of Independence.

Location
Vlora
Type
Urban
Procedure
Commission
Status
Ongoing
Year
2018–
Size (m²)
373.500

Client
Albanian Development Fund (ADF) and Marina di Valona sh.p.k.
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Joffrey About, Pieter Coelis, Ménélik Jobert, Jonathan Robert Maj, Emilia Ockerman, Dana Smetankova, Sophie Rouillère, Hannelore Thomas, Yannick Vergnaud
design development: Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis, with Lionel Bousquet, Pieter Coelis, Catherine Cornu, Chloé de Salins, Ménélik Jobert, Jacqueline de Souza Luduvice, Hanne Defloor, Morgan Delvaux, Karla Kovacevic, Jonathan Robert Maj, Léo Mazurek, Philip Niekamp, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Dana Smetankova, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Rui Zenha
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis, with Catherine Cornu, Chloé de Salins, Jacqueline de Souza Luduvice, Marie Debraine, Karla Kovacevic, Jonathan Robert Maj, Léo Mazurek, Anne-Sophie Rouillère, Dana Smetankova
Consultants
iRI sh.p.k. (engineering)
Jeshile sh.p.k. (landscape)
Photos
XDGA
233

Drie Fonteinen

Beersel

Commercial

Competition

Competition

2017

8.000

On a site along the canal in Beersel near Brussels, the Drie Fonteinen brewery consists of an existing cask hall that will be expanded with a new brewery and connected craft and production programs. The new volumes are radially arranged around the existing cask-hall. A large central public space offers a panoptic view of all the surrounding functions; these functions become vitrines around this new public space. A colonnade gallery extends into the industrial column structure of the new volumes and orders both landscape and buildings. The precedent of the monastic brewery, where landscape and built forms are part of an integrated whole, is here highly relevant. The brewery is designed as part of the wider municipality. The brewery acts as a lantern on the street side, the adjacent street is traffic-calmed and the masterplan integrates a collection of different public spaces. The newly planted orchard forms part of a walking route, from which one can catch a glimpse of the brewery’s activity and which leads to the multipurpose hall/café/tasting rooms that form the centre to the collection of buildings. The public space, in the heart of the plan, can serve as marketplace, events square, beer festival, etc.

Location
Beersel
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2017
Size (m²)
8.000

Client
Private
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Ménélik Jobert, Arie Gruijters, David Ampe, Emilia Ockerman
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
232

De Brouckère

Brussels

Residential

Competition

Competition

2017

43.000

The urban fabric around the Place de Brouckère exists out of a historical juxta-position of varying existing urban structures. The proposed new city block is situated in between this structure and contains in its center a large cinema complex that has to remain.
We propose an urban model that is different from the neighboring structures, but has the capacity to adapt to the context. Thus, the project is clearly marked by its own identity and simultaneously it integrates easily with the existing situation. The proposal consists of a series of independent volumes with simple geometric shapes and varied heights.
The unevenness of the existing plot is addressed in the interstitial outer spaces. These spaces provide a visual and functional porosity to the whole island. Their use is of a collective nature, sometimes with public accessibility. The configuration allows for varied views from apartments as well as from the city. The notions of interior and exterior of the island disappear.
A variety of regular façade patterns, adapted to the specific programs, will ensure the homogeneity of the project. Inside these façade grids, windows, opaque fills or loggias are alternated. To ensure increased privacy of the housing, all private outdoor spaces will be loggias that can be closed.
The proposed urban model incorporates the notion of flexibility, both in the buildings and in the outdoor spaces. Most buildings can be simple adapted to be able to change their function, the use and status of outdoor spaces will be similarly flexible.

Location
Brussels
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2017
Size (m²)
43.000

Client
BPI SA and IMMOBEL SA
Architect
XDGA – Xaveer De Geyter Architects
Xaveer De Geyter, Dana Vargovcíková, Therese Fritzell, Wouter Van Daele, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte
231

Maison de Médias

Brussels

Commercial

Competition

Competition

2017

9.400

A new media district will be created on the former national television site at the border of the city of Brussels. Nowadays this site is somehow isolated from the rest of the neighbourhood, mainly because of the road infrastructure all around it. The future masterplan aims at opening up the site and turning it into a multi-functional campus, allowing it to become part of the surrounding city;
The new Media House, a combination of small institutions, start-ups, educational program and the tv channel BX1, is situated on the border of the media district site. It therefore has the potential to become the first hot spot and link between the city and the campus.
The building functions as an open public platform inserted in the sloping ground, connecting the level of the Boulevard Reyers to the media campus on the other side, 2.50 meters below. The main entrance, the restaurant and the auditorium help animating the public space of the immediate surroundings and on the covered plaza, where several activities can take place during day and night;
The different programs are stacked horizontally, allowing great flexibility; they meet through different types of connecting spaces, encouraging informal interaction between different users. The building is fully glazed; showing the animation happening on the inside. For technical reasons, the tv studios don’t require any opening to the outside. This part of the program is positioned in a black box on the top floors, creating a strong identity for the building. One large window allows the tv studios to have a permanent view onto Brussels’ skyline.

Location
Brussels
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2017
Size (m²)
9.400

Client
Société d’Aménagement Urbain / Maatschappij voor Stedelijke Inrichting
Architect
XDGA – Xaveer De Geyter Architects
Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Elena Caruso, Antoine Chaudemanche, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Johan Cool, Lieven De Boeck, Jacqueline Luduvice de Souza, Ménélik Jobert, Emilia Ockerman, Greta Torsello
Consultants
Inside Outside (landscape)
Util (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanics)
Daidalos-Peutz (acoustics)
City Tools (urbanism)
Securisan (security)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
227

Prado

Marseille

Urban

Competition

Competition

2017

780

The project is conceived in the context of the 13th edition of the Manifesta Biennale, that took place in Marseille.
The site is the one of the Square Prado, a central location at the intersection of two major axes of the city.
Tackling the scale, geometry and significance of the square itself, the work, consisting of three circular rows of flag poles, materialises and at the same time frees up the Square.
At a height of 20 meters, the flag poles mediate between the neighbouring buildings’ roof lines and the trees’ foliage; each pole carries a 4x6m sports fabric flag that exalts Marseille’s specific climatic conditions and, more specifically, the presence of the Mistral.
The 43 colours utilised, which belong to the Pantone scale, are the colours needed to reproduce the flags of all nationalities and are categorised in relation to the different parts of the city they address: the reds are facing the city centre, the blues are looking towards the Sea, the greens towards the park etc. At the centre is a white flag, synthesis of all colours.
Ultimately, the work aims at questioning the symbolism attached to National flags and at celebrating unity within diversity.

Location
Marseille
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2017
Size (m²)
780

Client
Métrpole Aix-Marseille-Provence
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Lieven De Boeck, Lionel Bousquet
Consultants
Bollinger + Grohmann (stability)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Atelier Roland Jeol (lighting)
Studio Lieven De Boeck (artistic direction)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
225

Masterplan SANI

Bologna

Urban

Competition

Competition

2017

70.000

This international design competition addressed the conversion of the former SANI Barracks site in Bologna into a mix of public and private open spaces and primarily residential buildings.
The former SANI Barracks is a decommissioned military complex situated in the Navile neighbourhood, north of the historic centre of Bologna. The barracks once produced foodstuffs for the army and after the Second World War served principally as a storage depot. The object of the competition is a comprehensive masterplan providing proposals for the successive phase of operational planning. In detail, the objective is to identify a design proposal that respects the content of the listed heritage, the complex planning legislation and to define an urban structure for the renewal of the site.
In contrast with the existing situation, XDGA’s proposal is to organize the entire new building program in the form of a square inside the former enclave. This simple gesture brings a new order to the buildings’ configuration and allows for an intensive coexistence between the old and the new. The square marks a clear separation between the central public space that it surrounds and a series of collective and private spaces situated towards the outskirts of the site; The square becomes a centre for a larger public area, contains all commercial and public functions and is connected with the surroundings through a set of spatial links. The new buildings have three different heights; ranging from two story high buildings, buildings that have the same height as the existing ones and one tower that functions as a landmark to the surrounding environment.

Location
Bologna
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2017
Size (m²)
70.000

Client
CDP Investment
Architect and landscape
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Elena Caruso, Johan Cool, Jacqueline Luduvice de Souza, Federico Pedrini
Consultants
MATE Engineering (structure)
Restoration ZAA (restoration)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
224

Pescatore

Luxembourg

Residential

Competition

Competition

2017–2019

16.500

Established on the site of the former Fort Berlaimont, the Foundation has offered a high quality of life to 348 people since 1892. The new building of the Residence will be positioned to the east of the central wing, in order to create a visual link with the Kirchberg plateau and the upper town. While offering a great view of the landscape to each of the units, the intervention also recreates a functional garden courtyard to the west, thus recovering some of the original qualities of the park.
Three main concepts are at the basis of the architectural choices of the new building: 'small worlds', inhabited passageways and garden delivery yard.
Typological research has focused on a dual approach: the perception of space by residents, coupled with the efficiency that a care facility should have. The result consists of apartments that can easily be appropriated by the inhabitants, in order to create their "little world".
The inhabited passageway offers a glazed and bright environment, with multiple views of the garden courtyard. The passageway is completed by plants, flowers, a chair, an armchair. The space of a possible meeting, the space of a small collective, the space of the neighborhood.
The architectural intervention is ultimately in continuity with the existing built environment and manages to complement the strong identity of the original 1892 'Refuge'.

Location
Luxembourg
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2017–2019
Size (m²)
16.500

Client
Fondation J.P. Pescatore
Architects
XDGA- Xaveer De Geyter
Therése Fritzell, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Hanne Defloor

SNCDA
Sara Noel Costa De Araujo, Fani Bihr, Hadrien de Riemaecker, Kaat Volckaert, Camille Pons
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
217

UNIL - Science de la Vie

Dorigny

Education

Competition

Competition

2017

15.055

The project for the new ‘Sciences de la Vie’ building in Dorigny, inscribes itself within the contemporary asset of both the EPFL and UNIL campuses. In response to the open and continuous system of the campus on the West, and surpassing the autarchic objects characterising the East, the proposal aims at the creation of a three-dimensional composition.
Two distinct volumes are created, shifted in order to create several gardens, and finally lifted from the ground in order to react to the topography and articulate the programme in the context.

Location
Dorigny
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2017
Size (m²)
15.055

Client
Université de Lausanne
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Mar Garrido, Teresa Lecchi, Federico Pedrini, Yago Ryosuke, Yuichiro Suzuki, Matthias Van Rossen, Yannick Vergnaud
Consultants
Sobek (structure)
H+S (techniques)
Laborplaner (laboratories)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
216

ESMA

Montpellier

Education

Competition

Competition

2016

15.777

The insertion of this vast program in the pre-existing context of military buildings, on a smaller scale, requires an adapted architectural strategy. For this reason the volume is broken down into three different parts.
A porous base of white concrete claustra encompasses the first two levels of the school. In the grid transparent and opaque parts are arranged according to the needs of the program. Irregularly larger windows or doors are cut out of this mesh. The whole results in a varied facade with a certain depth and complexity, able to dialogue with the street and the neighbors.
The architecture of the whole is influenced by a structure resulting from the transition of a larger structural frame of the school and the car park, and a smaller frame adapted to housing. A series of inclined columns is visible at the intermediate level between the base and the housing. This transparent intermediate level, welcoming classes and workshops, makes the whole light and flamboyant. Here the building narrows on the forecourt side to create a balcony deck, thus increasing the theatrical aspect of the forecourt.
The volume of housing above is marked by its horizontal strata of passageways, whose perforated concrete undersides will be the most visible element. But also by its network of large diagonals in the gables of the school, which accompany a series of fire escapes, assuming this design as the identity of the school, where the common theme of the staircase is found both in the cinema, video games or interior architecture. The passageway aprons are clad in translucent and reflective glass. The pleated facade of the rooms favors the use of the passageway which preserves the privacy of the inhabitants.
The nature of the project is therefore a constant game between introversion and exchange with the outside, between reserve and flamboyance, a tension favoring the functioning, the life of the school and its openness to the neighborhood.

Location
Montpellier
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2016
Size (m²)
15.777

Client
ENKI
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), Bruther
for XDGA: Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Paul Emmanuel Lambert, Wouter van Daele
Consultants
Bollinger-Grohmann (structure)
Oteis-Bef (mechanics)
Sigma Acoustique (acoustics)
215

Nantes ARC

Nantes

Residential

Competition

Built

2016–2022

22.500

The project consists of three terraced towers standing on a plinth. The shape and positioning of each tower is the result of parameters such as optimal orientation, maximum privacy and multiplication of views towards the surroundings. The lowest volume contains the offices, while the two higher ones contain the housing program. A great deal of attention is reserved to the ground floors, in order to ensure the best integration possible into the context. On the west side, in fact, the dwellings are organised as duplex apartments, screened by a green canopy made possible by the building’s setback, while on the east side the offices’ common facilities (lobby, cafeteria, gym) animate the street. Roof-terraces and hanging gardens moreover facilitate the interactions amongst the inhabitants and offer splendid views towards the landscape.
The homogeneous treatment of the façade and the rational structural principle organising the plan furthermore respond to principles of long-term flexibility: the conversion of offices into housing is therefore possible, as is the combination of different dwelling types.
The minimum built footprint of the intervention ultimately allows for the preservation and planting of an important volume of high trees that help integrating the site in the existing landscape structure of the island, while the towers themselves become part of the new skyline of the city’s riverside.

Location
Nantes
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Built
Year
2016–2022
Size (m²)
22.500

client
groupe ARC
architects
XDGA- Xaveer De Geyter Architects
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Pierre Burquel, Wouter van Daele
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele, with Pierre Burquel, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Foucault Tiberghien, Yannick Vergnaud
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele, with Lionel Bousquet, Solène Le Gallo, Simon Vellut
consultants
Mabire-Reich (co-contractor, building permit)
Oteis-Isateg (structure, mechanics)
Veritas (technical control)
Ubi-City (BREEAM)
Serea (soil pollution)
photos
Maxime Delvaux
Charles Bouchaïb
214

Lille FCB

Lille

Residential

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2016–2022

10.000

This building block stands on the first plot to be converted on the grounds of Lille Fives Cail Babcock, a major historical industrial site in the North of France. It will accommodate a mix of housing and service flats together with some retail and communal activities on the ground floor.
Being the first to be designed, the project will constitute the blueprint for future developments on the site, specifically for what concerns reconverting industrial heritage into an ecological and urban setting, while safeguarding traces of its past.
A large green void at the centre of the project, following the shape and size of the factory’s formwork and recalling Flanders’ old “beguinages”, provides with a protected space in which the inhabitants can meet in a peaceful atmosphere. Around it, is a transparent gallery that not only distributes the fluxes to the different parts of the collective programme, but also acts as a filter between inside and outside.
Ultimately, contrasting with the horizontality of the courtyard, is the volumetric articulation of the housing blocks and senior residences that suggest a new scale and constitute a reference point for the future neighbourhood.

Location
Lille
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2016–2022
Size (m²)
10.000

client
Nexity - Nacarat
architects
XDGA- Xaveer De Geyter Architects
Xaveer De Geyter, Guillaume Bostoen, Maud Bouhin, Lionel Bousquet, Pierre Burquel, Antoine Chaudemanche, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Therese Fritzell, Paul Emmanuel Lambert, Federico Pedrini, Yago Ryosuke, Foucault Tiberghien, Simon Vellut, Yannick Vergnaud, Ulysse Zehnlé
consultants
Projex (structure)
l’AUC (urban plan)
Altitude 35 (landscape)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
212

New AARCH

Aarus

Education

Competition

Competition

2017

13.000

The dispersed structure characterising the Campus of the existing architecture school in the city centre of Aarhus, constituted the inspiration for the proposed concept of ‘open campus’.
On the new site, in fact, an urban spatial system of built and unbuilt is recreated, allowing for a porous structure, one that establishes a strong interaction with the neighbourhood.
Ultimately, the great diversity of scales and volumes reflects the programmatic complexity of the project and caters for specific relations between the buildings.

Location
Aarus
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2017
Size (m²)
13.000

Client
The Danish Building & Property Agency, Aarhus School of Architecture
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Yago Ryosuke Yuichiro Suzuki, Matthias Van Rossen
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
211

Campus Santé

Lausanne

Education

Competition

Competition

2015–2016

8.800

For a long time, the outskirts of Lausanne, on a slope down towards the Lac Leman, were considered as a landscape in which new projects could be implemented without major consequences. Today this periphery is so invaded that it has become semi-city, unfortunately marked by the absence of any notion of urbanity. Typically, ‘nature’ is only the background of buildings.
In this competition for a vast program of paramedical schools and student housing, the attempt is to engage the unbuilt not as residual space yet as a generator for urbanity. On a narrow stretch of sloping land a succession of courts is proposed, interconnected in between them and eventually opening up towards the outside. Stairs, passages, porches and elevated buildings allow for these connections. According to their function and localization, the courts are developed as a square, a sports field, a garden or an orchard. A central square, where different programs come together, and where most publicly accessible programs are concentrated on the ground floor, is covered with a transparent awning. The urban system may be continued beyond the program of the competition towards the future housing program to the north.
It guarantees a strong coherence while allowing for both spatial and programmatic variation.
Articulation of the specific places, expression of the different identities, orientation and rhythm of the courts are the factors that help to specify the facades. All buildings are entirely clad in glass: different kinds of coloured glass for the opaque parts, mirrored, translucent or clear glass for the windows.

Location
Lausanne
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2015–2016
Size (m²)
8.800

Client
Etat de Vaud, DFIRE, SIPAL
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, Guillaume Bostoen, Pierre Burquel, Emilia Ockerman, Diana Pantera, Federico Pedrini, Yago Ryosuke, Yuichiro Suzuki, Matthias Van Rossen, Yannick Vergnaud
Consultants
ZPF (structure)
ZPF (mechanics)
Sorane SA (sustainability)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
210

Learning and Innovation Centre

Brussels

Education

Competition

Competition

2016

8.000

After decades of doubt about their redundancy, libraries have nowadays increasingly become in their nature ‘public spaces’. The ambition of this project is no less than to transform a backyard area in between two adjacent university campuses into a central pivot, a public hotspot for both, providing space for informal meeting as well as for studious concentration. The idea here is to bring together the notion of ‘connection’ and the physical program of a ‘learning center’ in a single movement.
A perfect cube is meticulously implanted in the complex topography of the site. It has a hollow core that functions as an outside foyer and that links the different programs with the campus. The campus street, the university esplanade and a landscaped hill are three elements on different levels that are connected through a monumental staircase.
The compact volume has a minimal footprint. It has entrances on three sides and the facade system with alternating open and closed vertical strips guarantees a certain intimacy to the outdoor space and great flexibility to the interior. Interruptions of the strips mark all entrances, terraces and special features inside.

Location
Brussels
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2016
Size (m²)
8.000

^Client
Beliris, VUB, ULB
^Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Pierre Burquel, Elena Caruso, Hanne Defloor, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Cristian Panaïté, Federico Pedrini, Wouter van Daele
^Consultants
Werner Sobek (structure)
RCR (mechanics)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)

^Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
206

AZ Turnhout

Turnhout

Healthcare

Competition

Competition

2016

91.216

A design study for the fusion of two hospitals that creates space for the uncertainties and complexity of the hospital context. The master plan is strongly anchored in the landscape so as to provide a vision for future developments on the site. A square is the opening element of the masterplan: all accesses are oriented towards this central point which will act as a point of arrival for the organization of all future traffic. The web of internal circulation is organized by a public patio around which several wings of the hospital unfold into the landscape, while the spaces between these wings create gardens.

Location
Turnhout
Type
Healthcare
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2016
Size (m²)
91.216

Client
AZ Turnhout
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Guillaume Bostoen, Hanne Defloor, Leo Ferretto, Cristian Panaïté, Yago Ryosuke, Willem Van Besien, Matthias Van Rossen
Consultants
VK Engineering (structure, techniques)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
205

Congress Centre

Charleroi

Cultural

Competition, 1st Prize

Discontinued

2015

11.000

The project seeks to be part of the political will to renew the image of Charleroi, to renovate its historic center, to insert its institutions in a new dynamic for the coming century. Vector image and identity for Charleroi, the future ensemble comprising of the Palais des Beaux Arts and the new Congress Center is also an opportunity to set new standards for this kind of equipment.
The aesthetics of the project are treated as the result of the program. The project is built on the rationality of uses, the response to the program and the urban integration of it. The project will then be able to host events ranging from a few tens of participants to several thousand, have a single event in all the rooms or simultaneously several stand-alone events. The rationality of the plan ultimately guarantees the readability of each of the spaces.

Location
Charleroi
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Discontinued
Year
2015
Size (m²)
11.000

Client
Ville de Charleroi - Igretec
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Antoine Chaudemanche, Paul Emmanuel Lambert
Consultants
Greisch (structure)
Boydens Studiebureau (mechanics)
Peutz (acoustics)
Duck (scenography)
Radiance 35 (lighting)
203

Ginder - Ale Brewery

Merchtem

Residential

Competition, 1st Prize

Discontinued

2016

16.000

The competition was organised to refurbish the former brewery building of Ginder-Ale as a multifunctional complex situated in the centre of the village of Merchtem.
The existing monumental building will be stripped down to its impressive concrete structure and will host commercial activities, a car parking, a public function and at the top level housing of varying size and typology.
The presence of the built volume in the surroundings will change from a completely closed and introverted block to towards an open structure containing different programs.
By removing the closed brick façade and inserting a publicly accessible balcony, the building will establish a new relationship with the centre of Merchtem.

Location
Merchtem
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Discontinued
Year
2016
Size (m²)
16.000

Client
Aura Estates
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Karel Bruyland, Elena Caruso, Lieven De Boeck, Hanne Defloor, Arie Gruijters, Cristian Panaïté, Valentin Piret, Yanick Vergnaud
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanics)
202

Residence P24

Palaiseau

Residential

Commission

Built

2015–2018

14.500

Lot P24 is part of the Saclay ISO. The P2 zone represents the heart of the future district of the École Polytechnique. Located in the central strip, it will host the Palaiseau station of the future line 18 of the Grand Paris metro. The P2.4 plot faces the Institut Supérieur Mines Télécom, one of the main educational buildings in the central strip. Lot P2.4 houses student accommodation (408 beds), a hotel residence (110 beds) as well as 1600m2 of shops and a public car park with 140 spaces. The layout of the building is regulated by a 4.50m high plinth along which the shops and main entrances are arranged. The two main programs (student residence in R + 6 and hotel in R + 7) develop in a superstructure. The student residence adopts an “S” shape of constant thickness from north to south of the plot. The hotel is located on the northeast corner. The two buildings maintain a dialogue through a set of facades with dominant vertical or horizontal depending on the configuration. An interior patio is shared by the two programs and the student residence also has a private patio. The materials used in facades are: enameled brick, black tinted prefabricated concrete and aluminum / wood joinery.

Location
Palaiseau
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2015–2018
Size (m²)
14.500

Client
Bouygues Immobilier
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), FAA (Floris Alkemade Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Lionel Bousquet, Jérémie Brault, Antoine Chaudemanche, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Mathilde Dutilleul, Felix Forthmeijer, Ménélik Jobert, Solène Le Gallo, Paul Emmanuel Lambert, Foucault Tiberghien, Yannick Vergraud, Simon Vellut
Consultants
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
200

MBAT

Tournai

Cultural

Competition, 1st Prize

Ongoing

2015–

9.370

Since its construction from 1913 to 1928 the existing museum by Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta was never adapted to today’s standards for conservation and display of old artworks. The collection ranges from 15th century art up to contemporary art of that period. The competition demand was to realise this transformation and to build an extension to it. In order to meet these climatic standards much of the architectural quality of the building would be lost. The daylight factor would have to be diminished by 90%, as all roofs are made in glass. Isolating the building would endanger its geometry and the panoptic plan would have to be divided into compartments.
For these reasons, a controversial strategy consisting of two parts is chosen.
First of all, it was decided to accentuate the public nature of Horta's central space while the turtle's 'legs' remain exhibition spaces for works that require a lower climatic standard. The second is to inhabit the entire interstitial space between the museum and the surrounding houses with a new exhibition ‘field’ that matches all the requirements.
Doing so means that the museum can get rid of its rather hermetic position in the city. Non-museum related activities can happen in the central space, while the main entrance to the museum, its ticket shop, bookshop and cafeteria are organised here as well. The ‘legs’ are integrated in an exhibition trajectory, alternating between old and new. The permanent exhibition makes use of an orthogonal grid of new walls, the former garden walls and the exterior brick wall of the Horta building for the display of the collection. For temporary exhibitions a small cube consisting of 3 floors is added to the new layout.

Location
Tournai
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Ongoing
Year
2015–
Size (m²)
9.370

Client
City of Tournai
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Guillaume Bostoen, Lieven De Boeck, Paul Emmanuel Lambert, Federico Pedrini, David Verbeeck, Stéphanie Willocx
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Federico Pedrini, with David Ampe, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Lieven De Boeck, Marie Debraine, Arie Gruijters, Jacqueline Luduvice, Anne- Sophie Rouillère, Willem Van Besien, Stéphanie Willocx
Consultants
Barbara Van Der Wee (restoration)
Ney & Partners (structure)
Ingenium (mechanics)
Daidalos (sustainability)
Kascen (scenography)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
199

Campus ETHZ-EMPA

Zürich

Education

Competition

Competition

2015

47.000

The project is set up on an ETH research campus. Voluntarily compact, the proposal strives to free up a maximum of public space in its periphery.
One of them, mineral, organizes a large esplanade in the center of the campus; another, planted, offers a park in the immediate vicinity of the places of life and research. All office buildings, laboratories and halls are organized and juxtaposed around a large patio building inhabiting the common functions of the campus: cafeteria, auditoriums, meeting rooms, reception rooms on the ground floor and parking on the upper floors.
In addition, the exchange between the different functions and the proximity created by the volumes’ arrangement, create strong spatial situations where crossed perspectives highlight the different scales and natures of the programs.

Location
Zürich
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2015
Size (m²)
47.000

Client
ETH Zurich and Empa
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Guillaume Bostoen, Leo Ferretto, Ménélik Jobert, Federico Pedrini, Yuichiro Suzuki, Matthias Van Rossen, Rui Zenha
Consultants
ZPF (structure)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Werner Sobek Green Technologies (sustainability)
B+P (economy)
197

't Zand

Bruges

Urban

Competition

Competition

2015

22.300

The streets and public squares of the centre of Bruges retain a remarkable harmony with their buildings. However, the square ‘t Zand’, situated on the border of the inner city, is an exception to this rule and presents itself as a large empty space with no real relation to the surrounding buildings. Only the concert hall at the southern edge of the space is somewhat related to the scale of the square. The square is intensely used by a variety of large scale activities that create a lively, functional and essential part of the city. In order to keep this functional quality to its maximum, one should provide the space with a focus point, a ‘place-mark’, instead of strengthening the spatial definition of it borders. This place-mark creates a counterpoint to the spatial emptiness of the square and locates a meeting for when the square is used.
At the north side of the square we propose a circular, translucent canopy, the same width as the square. This object; a round bowl with a circular oculus in the middle, functions as both a sheltering roof and as a waterfall. The reflection of the water, the play of light and shadow, defines an everchanging atmosphere and experience. The object itself is as immaterial as possible; a translucent fabric suspended below a series of concentric rings which catch the rainwater into a cascade that flows gently towards the central waterfall opening. At the level of the square additional fountains are foreseen, their change in flow and ebb providing a constant varying play of water. The new fountain canopy becomes a point of attraction which allows the inhabitation of the empty vastness of the square and creates opportunities for different activities and appropriations.

Location
Bruges
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2015
Size (m²)
22.300

Client
City of Bruges
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, David Ampe, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Lieven De Boeck, Joris De Greef, Leo Ferretto, Michel Sikorski, Willem Van Besien, David Verbeeck
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
196

Montpellier Cambacérès

Montpellier

Urban

Competition, 1st Prize

Under construction

2014–

400.000

The project to create the Cambacérès district on the outskirts of Montpellier is in continuity with the urban history of the city. Each period, in fact, found a specific urban expression. Cambacérès is a response to the challenges of the 21st century: mobility, adaptability, and diversity.
The project is built from the existing components of the site which are highlighted and at the same time constitute the framework for the urban composition: the natural components / infrastructures and the existing networks/objects (urban and landscaped areas).
Thus around the new TGV station and the Totem pilot building (business incubator), 400,000 m² of housing, offices and other services, are developed and organized along a chain of public spaces, along a programmed park.
The project proposes to evolve according to a prefiguration phasing, which would allow the public to experience the site as it develops.

Location
Montpellier
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Under construction
Year
2014–
Size (m²)
400.000

Client
serm Montpellier

Architect
XDGA – FAA Floris Alkemade
for XDGA: Xaveer De Geyter, Joffrey About, Guillaume Bostoen, Maud Bouhin, Pierre Burquel, Antoine Chaudemanche, , Thaïs de Roquemarel, Leo Ferretto, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Claire Lootens, Emilia Ockerman, Cristian Panaïté, Yuichiro Suzuki, Wouter van Daele, Samia Wahbi, Rui Zenha
Consultants
Grontmij (structure), OTEIS (techniques), CVA – Dominique Boudet (consultant), Éva Le Roi (illustrator)
195

Melopee School

Ghent

Education

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2015–2022

7.680

In the harbour area a narrow stretch of land along a dock is freed from port activities. A very simple ‘chop stick’ urban plan is developed by O.M.A. in which green open pockets alternate with dense construction. In order to offer a notion of centrality to the linear plan, a public path is meant to cross the whole strip. The site for the school faces one green area at its south side, the dock on its west side, a square and a housing block on the north and the harbour road on the east. The requested program for the building, a combination of a primary school, an after school care centre, a nursery and sports facilities for both the school and its neighbourhood, is diverse and extensive. On top it requires a great deal of specific outside playgrounds. In order to counter the lack of space, deal with the inside-outside complexity of programs and allow for the public path to pass, the maximum building envelope is divided in two halves: one compact building housing all interior functions, and an outside space in which the playgrounds are stacked. In between both, and under a first level playground realized in glass tiles, the path crosses the volume.
A galvanized steel skeleton unifies the two halves. On the side of the interior volume, the façades of the building are designed as a patchwork of opaque and translucent polycarbonate, glass, and aluminium louvres. The outside structure will be overgrown with vegetation climbing along a steel mesh, in which some large ‘windows’ are cut out.

Location
Ghent
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2015–2022
Size (m²)
7.680

Client
sogent
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Thérese Fritzell, Ingrid Huyghe, Willem Van Besien, Stéphanie Willocx
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Karel Bruyland, Thérese Fritzell, Arie Gruijters, Ingrid Huyghe, Willem Van Besien, Stéphanie Willocx
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Ingrid Huyghe, Willem Van Besien
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical)
Daidalos Peutz ingenieursbureau (acoustics)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
Awards
Brussels Architecture Prize 2021, Category 'Extra Muros', winner, for Melopee School, Ghent, Belgium
Bigmat Award '21, Grand International Prize, for Melopee School, Ghent, Belgium
193

IAMP

Brussels

Urban

Study

Completed

2014–2023

1.315.413

The study for the Landside Masterplan for Brussels International Airport involves identifying the potential development zones, the projected demand for functions to be hosted and the study of traffic and access-related issues.
This lead to a strategic vision harping on four key development zones, each one associated to a specific morphology and programme structuring the respective built environments, landscapes and public realms.
In addition to this, the existing entrance to the terminal is reimagined, in order to match the significance of a renewed international airport.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2014–2023
Size (m²)
1.315.413

Client
Brussels Airport Company
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Arie Gruijters, Cristian Panaïte, David Ampe, Doug Allard, Pierre Burquel, Rémy Carat, Elena Caruso, Pieter Coelis, Johan Cool, Pieter de Walsche, Hanne Defloor, Eleonor Ferragu, Ménélik Jobert, -Emmanuel Lambert, Emilia Ockerman, Federico Pedrini, Yago Ryosuke, Hannelore Thomas, Greta Torsello, Willem van Besien, Wouter Van Daele
Consultants
Technum-Tractebel (mobility)
Idea Consult (economy)
189

Station Kremlin Bicêtre

Paris

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2015

2.000

Located at the interface between Gentilly and the Kremlin Bicêtre, the station will allow to articulate the development of the future urban center; it is thought of as a real node in co-production between the SGP, the RATP, the CHU and the city.
The project must therefore be able to integrate additional programs that will accompany the production of a contemporary, mixed and sustainable neighbourhood despite its limited footprint and its fragmented environment. The station forecourt must ensure continuous public space at the local and intermunicipal level, as it will take the form of a bustling urban square.
The bottom and the top of the Station - the well and the emergence, respond to different challenges: the positioning of the underground station shaft responds to considerations linked to the technical and economic feasibility of the whole network, while the positioning of the emergence responds to coherence of the public space, and urban articulation.

Location
Paris
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2015
Size (m²)
2.000

Client
SGP - Société du Grand Paris
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert
Consultants
Ingerop (structure, mechanics, sustainability, economy)
188

Museum for natural History and City Archives

Basel

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2014

12.000

This competition is a real challenge on how to combine the two programs – the Basel City Archive and the Museum for Natural History - in such a way that they interact maximally with the public realm of the surrounding city. The two main restrictions in order to do so are the long, small and irregular shaped building site along a railroad track and the majority of the program that does not allow direct daylight to enter the building.
We propose one building volume containing both programs. The building is designed as a horizontal skyscraper perfectly adapting to the restrictions of the site. The delivery zone is situated underground, the tower volume works as a plinth along the street that becomes a gradually stepped tower at the south side. This composition combines a strong identity with a volumetric articulation towards the Entenwidstrasse.
The building is mainly a closed volume. On the street side however, a long volume is cut out. Here, a glass façade allows visual contact between the publicly accessible program of the building and the street. This cut-out continues through the building, rises on one side to the level of the adjacent bridge, while on the opposite side descending towards the lowest level. This canyon through the building provides physical access to the museum and the archives and creates a visual interaction with the string of public parts of the museum and the archives. Behind a glass façade unfolds a series of public functions: the reading room of the city archives, the auditorium, the foyer with the entrance, and the exhibition space in the section above, the cafeteria, the forum, the museum library and museum shop at the lower level. Many visual links are created showing the internal activities of the two programs both from the inside as well as towards the street.
The largest part of the building is covered with rolled steel, protected from corrosion with a matt, transparent PUR paint. Only the cut-out at the street side is as transparent and light as possible. The offices are in dark limousine glass. The steel-blue colour scheme of the closed volume is in strong contrast with the crystal clear glass of the façade of the cut-out and the polished, light-reflective sheet steel for the ceiling of the canyon.

Location
Basel
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2014
Size (m²)
12.000

Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele, Michael Smith, Arie Gruijters, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert
187

World Health Organization

Lausanne

Commercial

Competition

Competition

2014

30.000

We propose a volume, perpendicular to the main building that stretches both to the south and the north. The volume is lifted six meters above grade. On the north side, it stands above the ramp of the parking garage, while on the south side it stands on top of a wider pedestal volume that is in continuity with the lower floors of the main building.
The advantages are numerous. The proposal unites the entire WHO site. While being considerably lower than the main building, the new premise is immediately visible upon arrival. The arrival square is now more clearly defined by all tree WHO buildings. On the garden side the modest volume allows for a maximal preservation of the existing view from the main building. The link with the existing building happens almost in the middle of the new volume, while the whole office program is condensed in only four, extremely flexible floors.

Location
Lausanne
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2014
Size (m²)
30.000

Client
World Health Organisation
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Leo Ferretto, Yago Ryosuke, Yuichiro Suzuki
186

Kalvebod District West

Kalvebod

Urban

Competition

Competition

2014

325.000

Copenhagen is growing at approximately 1,000 people per month. There is a great demand for housing, particularly close to the centre of Copenhagen. At the same time it experiences an increasing desire to stay close to green recreational areas, especially for families with children. There is every reason to believe that the neighbourhood of Kalvebod West, t of the commons and the subway, offers an attractive combination of the two with the desire that the area will be fully developed and inhabited within the foreseeable future. Conversely, we learned later in 2008 that circumstances can change rapidly. The development may periodically stop and demand may change along the way. It is therefore essential that the plan is both robust enough to function throughout development, while it is flexible enough to adapt to changes in demand, for example of housing types, activities or functions throughout the development. Our approach to flexibility and robustness is based on three principles: 1. A clear physical structure variations, 2. Flexibility in development, 3. Various options

Location
Kalvebod
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2014
Size (m²)
325.000

Client
By og Havn
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Tobias Labarque, Antoine Chaudemanche, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Frederic Rasier, Vincent Cellier, Lieven De Boeck
Consultants
Shønherr A/S (landscape)
Alectia A/S (structure, MEP - sustainability)
Anne Katrine Hornemann (urban strategies)
183

Physics University Department

Orsay

Education

Competition

Competition

2012

10.200

The building site is located on the edge of the Paris-Saclay campus masterplan between the forest and the emerging city fabric. The building is a rational three dimensional grid structure able to adapt to the programmatic and contextual instances.
The four sides of the building, in fact, respond to different urban conditions, while large scale wood-clad loggias and different in-fills animate the elevations.
The lower levels house heavy labs and public programs; the floor is structured around a central open area and four auditoriums, one on each side.
The upper floors house four different research units, composed of smaller classrooms grouped around four double-height loggias.
The last level is ultimately a roof-scape populated by testing areas as well as recreational terraces.

Location
Orsay
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2012
Size (m²)
10.200

Client
Université Paris-Sud
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Guillaume Bostoen, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Michel Sikorski, Yago Ryosuke, Michael Smith
Consultants
Bollinger & Grohmann (structure)
Alto (MEP - sustainability)
MDETC (economy)
182

Waterfront Promenade

Vlora

Urban

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2014–2016

800.000

The Vlora coastline profits from spectacular views towards the bay and the Karaburun peninsula. However, it remained a neglected and derelict area for a long time. After an era of notoriously rigorous socialist regime, a spirit of unrestrained liberalism took over. The ambition of this project is to give a common interest back to the city. A major public space is to transcend the multitude of private developments next to having the potential of becoming a catalyst for a new tourism economy and triggering an urban renaissance. Over a long stretch of 8 kilometres the topography changes from a wooded horizontal landscape to a steep sloping surface that leaves with hardly any space for road and leisure infrastructure. Equally, the urban condition evolves from a peripheral situation to a city center that is blocked off by a secured harbour area, towards a thin stretch of coastline buildings. This multitude of conditions is ‘countered’ by a continuous promenade that meanders between the waterline and the road, and that is raised over the harbour. From that starting point a square, a park, beaches, wooded beaches, sports fields, swimming pools are being developed as well as a new road, the first cycling path in Vlora, terraces on the buildings side, and parking infrastructure. Between the square and the park, a circular concrete island faces the stairs that lead to the water level. Twice a day it disappears under the waterline. The promenade is accompanied by a local pine tree, planted irregularly across the path. Wherever possible existing elements such as a row of palm trees are integrated in the plan.
So far 3.8 kilometres have been executed. The next kilometre with external swimming pools to the south end is to come soon. A marina next to the harbour is furthermore being studied, together with a new park linking the central city boulevard to the sea.

Location
Vlora
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2014–2016
Size (m²)
800.000

Client
Albania Development Fund
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Pierre Burquel, Pieter Coelis, Mathilde Dutilleul, Wouter van Daele
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis, with Pierre Burquel, Elena Caruso, Mathilde Dutilleul, Wouter Van Daele, Rui Zenha
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis
Consultants
IRD Engineering (structure)
IRD Engineering (techniques)
MetroPOLIS (local architect)
Symbiotica (local implementation)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
181

MKL 2100

Knokke-Koksijde

Urban

Competition

Competition

2014

>5.000.000

The goal of the multidisciplinary study ‘Metropolitan Coastal Landscape 2100’ is to develop the building blocks for and from the ongoing processes and developments through research by design. By aiming –ambitiously- at 2100 as a frame of mind we approach the Belgian coast and it’s hinterland as a whole on a long term perspective, in its international context. Both the urban landscape as the interwoven anthropomorphic ‘green’ landscape are the intrinsic canvas for the coastal development study.
There is an urgent need for a larger frameset in which the urgencies emerging from very different sectors can be unified; a frame where ambitious visions and concrete projects can be set in a larger, qualitative context, looking past the current ‘business-as-usual’ approach. Rather than claiming absolute truths via a single masterplan, this study aims at provoking, stimulating and exploring relevant questions, opportunities and challenges through explorative scenarii.
The structurally differentiated scenarii for the Belgian coast elaborate specific –but not always apparent- existing qualities from the current natural or anthropomorphic coastal landscape. The extrapolation of these characteristics leads to four divergent, ambitious but plausible spatial principles for the organisation of a metropolitan landscape that is able to cope with the unpredictable dynamics of natural and sociological processes. Based on the qualities of these four perspectives for an alternate future the policies between stakeholders, governance and sectors can be guided towards an ambitious shared program of development strategies and concrete transformations.

Location
Knokke-Koksijde
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2014
Size (m²)
>5.000.000

Client
Vlaams Bouwmeester, Ruimte Vlaanderen, Ministerie Openbare Werken
Architects
XDGA (XDGA-Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis, Eline Dehullu, Federico Pedrini
180

Moscow Financial Centre

Moscow

Urban

Competition

Competition

2014

>5.000.000

The installation of the new Financial Centre in the Moscow Region, on virgin land and along a majestic bend of the Moscow River deserves a degree of excellence. MFC needs splendor in order to distinguish itself from the chaotic periphery, and in order to become an attractive brand of its own. The surface of the required building program equals the surface of the site. A FAR of 1 does not allow for an attractive urbanity. 80% of the total program, is organized on 38% of the land around the different future access infrastructures at the North-Eastern part of the site, and shaped into a circular city that fits perfectly on the natural peninsula created by the river. This concentration does not make the rest of the site into a hinterland. A number of clearly identified spots are programmed in a specific way.

Location
Moscow
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2014
Size (m²)
>5.000.000

Client
Sberbank Of Russia
Architects
XDGA, FAA, SVESMI, Ostozhenka
For XDGA: Federico Pedrini, Michael Smith, Wouter Van Daele, Yuichiro Suzuki, Arie Gruijters, Ryosuke Yago, Guillaume Bostoen, Matthieu Hackenheimer
Consultants
Buro Happold LTD (structure, mechanics, sustainability, transport)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Prof. Giacomo Morri, Mr. Vladislav Lutskov (economy)
179

Tweewaters

Leuven

Residential

Commission

Built

2015–2022

28.000

The project consists of two main buildings – the tower and the bar-, and is located in a park that was a former important beer production site.

The tower develops over 20 levels for a total height of 70 meters and 9000 m² of apartments; this landmark is composed of juxtaposed and offset prisms, that not only allow for an accentuation of the volume’s mass, but also offer ample, diversified and open views towards the context. The facades are almost completely transparent and the southern facade is exclusively made up of loggias, allowing each apartment to have direct access to an outdoor space.
The verticality generated by the composition of the volume is furthermore enhanced by the rhythm of the panels and that of the aluminium profiles.

The bar, on the other hand, develops over 140 meters in length, 6 levels in height, for a total of 19000 m² of housing programme.
Conceived as a horizontal object, in direct dialogue with the garden, the bar is characterized by a fractional volumetric according to the floors.
On the ground floor, the lobby of the apartments in situated, together with spaces for activities and terraces oriented towards the south and the park.

Location
Leuven
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2015–2022
Size (m²)
28.000

Client
AG Real Estate
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
design: Xaveer De Geyter, Allard Doug, Bonnevalle Tom, Bruyland Karel, Coelis Pieter, De Greef Joris, Huyghe Ingrid, Jobert Menelik, Rouillere Anne-Sophie, Van Besien Willem, Van Daele Wouter, Vandeputte Marie-Pierre, Zenha Rui
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Bonnevalle Tom, Coelis Pieter, De Greef Joris, Defloor Hanne, Duerinck Nicolas, Duric Nenad, Houari Yasmine
Consultants
Arcade Concept Engineering BVBA (structure) / SWECO (structure execution)
STABO (mechanical) / STABO-MACOBO (mechanical execution)
ARA + Bureau Bas Smets (landscape)
D2S (acoustics)
Daidalos (wind study)
Photos
XDGA
178

Rio Medellín

Medellín

Urban

Competition

Competition

2013

>5.000.000

It is an illusion to create a park of 18 km. long. The point is instead to open the city toward the river and in return connect neighbourhoods that are at present very heterogeneous areas and give a boost to the entire city. To this end, we propose the treatment of specific areas of the city and especially parks and public spaces to social and urban uses in each of the different neighbourhoods.
The chain of parks should enable the transformation of consciousness of the city and reflect the vision of a city that projects into the future. It must enable the creation of a large scale in the city. These areas should be linked to larger programs but also to the economic zones of the city. Within the major interventions, we opted for areas that shows to be typical.
Today the new parks are located near the areas of activity next to the airport, regrouped in the south next to the semi-industrial zones, in the city centre close to the university, in the northern areas and in the potential areas linked to recreation on the river.
The park areas delimited have different connection situations: connection between the river and road infrastructure, connection between districts within the same river bank, neighbourhoods connected to the river or further beyond the opening of the river to the city. These big parks and their interaction with the transport network thus become a system of natural service at the level of the entire city.
The city of Medellín is not very dense compared to other cities of the same size, but its territory is very homogeneous. Specifically in the centre of the plain, outside of the areas close to the city centre, wherever the land is flatter, semi-industrial areas and zones of activity have settled naturally. To the north, the topography has not allowed the same specialization and density. The problem with this typological specialization is that it cuts the city from the river. To bury infrastructure will not be enough to solve this issue. The integration of tunnel and apparent tunnels infrastructures must be the opportunity for a profound transformation of the city and its neighbourhoods.

Location
Medellín
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2013
Size (m²)
>5.000.000

Client
Alcaldia de Medellín
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Federico Pedrini, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Beatrice Colaiacomo
Consultants
Ingerop (infrastructure, mobility, sustainability, economy)
177

École Centrale

Casablanca

Education

Competition

Competition

2013

25.000

The prestigious French university Ecole Centrale opens a local department in Morocco. The campus will be located close to large woodland on the edges of Casablanca. It will be the first public building to be completed in new town scheme. The campus occupies most of the narrow building plot.
The project is structured around a contrasted sequence of designed spaces that follow the natural slope. The spaces bring users from entrance parking to sport fields. Some of those places are indoor while others are outdoor.
The campus includes a student housing area and allows further extension by densification of one of the courtyards. The main building is naturally ventilated by a large scale wind trap. The campus is simultaneously open onto its context because it’s surrounding wall is porous, and it is introspective like a small walled oasis-city.

Location
Casablanca
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2013
Size (m²)
25.000

Client
OMPIC
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Consultants
Fikri Ben Abdallah (local architect)
Images
Weiss images, XDGA
176

IOC

Lausanne

Civic

Competition

Competition

2014

13.000

The IOC headquarters exist in a both precious and precarious relation to their surroundings. Near the shoreline of the Lac Léman a small castle, a nineties restaurant building and a larger office building clad in mirror glass, stand ‘en enfilade’ on a park ground that belongs to the city and that is used by citizens for leisure activities. The castle is key to the identity of IOC and it is overpowered by the office building. The request for a new, much larger and much more interactive work space risks to bring this community out of balance. How not to compete against the castle and how not to chase the citizens out of the park when ten thousand square meters of offices are to be installed?
A large, open work-field is situated in the central part of the site, with the castle positioned inside.
The building that contains this surface is conceived as a transparent, prismatic volume, an intermediate structure in between the castle and the surrounding nature. It has a constant perimeter height of 13meters, allowing a free view from the castle towards the park and vice versa. The castle, in its glorious new role, defines the inside space together with a patio, similar in size. The field is considered as a micro-size urban plan, with enclosed volumes that, through their precise configuration, allow the open space to function well. As immaterial as the outside skin is intended to be, as tectonic is the roof that slopes down from this horizontal perimeter to the patio and upwards to the castle. The sloping ceilings along the facades reflect the park or the work spaces inside, thus blurring the boundary between inside and outside. The ceilings in the middle bring in filtered daylight, the one on top of the castle is fully transparent.

Location
Lausanne
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2014
Size (m²)
13.000

Client
IOC (International Olympic Committee)
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Nicola Acquafredda, Guillaume Bostoen, Antoine Chaudemanche, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Leo Ferretto, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Federico Pedrini, Wouter van Daele, Yago Ryosuke, Yuichiro Suzuki
Consultants
Werner Sobek Engineering (structure)
Werner Sobek Engineering (mechanical)
Richard Conseils (fire safety)
Green Technologies (sustainability)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
174

Laken Hop School

Laken

Education

Competition

Competition

2013

19.500

Between an urban landscape and the royal parks, the site is hidden, protected from the nuisances of the city and surrounded by abundant vegetation.
A strong natural slope provides a counterweight to this inclusion, offering views that go beyond the neighbouring houses. The project considers two programmatic entities. The school and its outdoor spaces on the one hand and the residences with their parking lot on the other.
Two separate buildings express their corresponding identities, two adapted project responses, that optimize relations with the surrounding existing construction and transform the difficulties inherent to the sloping terrain in an unexpected spatial quality. The volume of the school is designed as an island enveloping a playground, and inserted into the slope; the housing volume is divided into three equal entities containing different types of apartments.
The impact of the built ensemble ultimately remains very minimal: the views are preserved, there are no vis-à-vis with the surrounding houses and the noise of the school is largely internalized.

Location
Laken
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2013
Size (m²)
19.500

Client
City of Bruxelles (Strabag), Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Elena Caruso, Pieter Coelis, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Cristian Panaite, Yuichiro Suzuki, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Rui Zenha
Consultants
Fraeye & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (techniques, sustainability)
173

CIAC

Ghent

Residential

Competition

Competition

2013

38.000

The CIAC site is located in a strategic location in Ghent: on the inner ring that surrounds the centre, but at the same time just on the edge of the city. Here, large-scaled isolated buildings are set side to side with smaller residential ones in an urban patchwork.
Our project tackles this context by imagining a façade that encloses both buildings and green spaces: on one side, it is made up of the existing white brick facade, on the other, by a new ‘transparent’ screen of individual terraces.
The built strips follow the maximum urban envelope and host the different parts of the program according to openings, functionality and orientation.
Student accommodation is situated in a slim, separate, sideways building north of the square; assisted living facilities and social housing are housed in two buildings surrounding a common garden at the edge of the ring.
Along the ring border and the Benelux square are shops, a crèche and a fitness centre, as well as the planning for a possible semi-underground supermarket.
All garden facades are designed in reflective aluminium, which increases tenfold the image of greenery. They form a screen pierced with large openings, behind which are located terraces.

Location
Ghent
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2013
Size (m²)
38.000

Client
BeSix
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Pierre Burquel, Pieter Coelis, Eline Dehullu, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Michael Smith, Willem Van Besien
Consultants
Studiebureau Boydens (techniques, sustainability)
BeSix (construction)
172

Goethe Institut & Baden-Württemberg

Brussels

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2013

2.400

Two questions are at the heart of the expansion of the representation of the Baden-Württemberg Region and the installation of the Goethe Institut in Brussels. On the one hand, the reorganization of programs of a different nature poses a clear challenge in terms of redevelopment and extension. On the other hand, the urban environment in which this takes place is very complex.
The program is two-fold: for Baden-Württemberg, a new conference hall, reception areas and offices; for Goethe, classrooms and offices. In order to ensure the independence of both programs, the two entrances are separated, each with an adjoining lobby.
The Goethe Institute and the new offices will remain accessible via the current entrance at 58 rue Belliard: the institute will occupy the entire front facade of the classified building, while the rest of the program will develops in the building's rear.
The offices are moved to the upper floors for an optimal free plan organization, while the crown shape surmounting the listed facade indicates the presence of the extension on Rue Belliard.
Between the new volume and the rehabilitated floors, a comfortable terrace offers a wide view of Brussels.
Access to the Baden-Württemberg extension is via a new, enlarged lobby, a cross plan that serves the office access core, the lobby rooms and the existing garden, then the exhibition hall and the conference room through the new garden.
The conference room is a quiet rectangular space, covered by prestressed slabs, allowing to optimize the span between the adjoining walls.
The whole space is designed as a large room without columns, contained by large folding facades that can be opened entirely to reinforce the link between the conference space and the gardens; the orientation of the room, its plan, its technique, can be adapted to other forms of event which may need to use both qualities, interior and exterior.
Accessibility from the car park is finally equal for both organisations, once again guaranteeing their independence.

Location
Brussels
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2013
Size (m²)
2.400

Client
Land Baden-Württemberg
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Pierre Burquel, Antoine Chaudemanche, Felix Forthmeijer, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Federico Pedrini, Yannick Vergnaud
Consultants
Bollinger & Grohmann (structure)
Transsloar (techniques)
171

Le Bourget Metro

Paris

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2014

3.000

The Gare du Bourget, emblematic station of the Grand Paris Express will stand out as a strategic intersection of various existing and future transport lines to the North East of the Parisian metropolis.
It will accommodate lines 16 and 17 of the Grand Paris Express and will provide Inter-modality with other transports (RER B, bus station, TLN station, Metro 7) through the mobility gallery. The station will make it possible to open up a site that today is severely cut off by heavy infrastructure: the National Bridge, the rail beam and the aerial beam. The station should therefore not have a single main façade, but instead work as more of an open hinge on its environment. The bottom and the top of the Station respond to different challenges: the positioning of the station shaft underground responds to considerations that are linked to the technical and economic feasibility of the entire network. The positioning of the emergence, on the other hand, responds to local issues, consistency of public space, and enhancement of urban qualities.

Location
Paris
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2014
Size (m²)
3.000

Client
SGP - Société du Grand Paris
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), FAA, AUC
For XDGA: Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Solène Le Gallo, Michel Sikorski, Yannick Vergnaud
Consultants
Tractebel (structure)
Elioth (sustainability)
Bureau Michel Forgue (economy)
Peutz & Associates (acoustics)
Radiance 35 (lighting)
170

Faculty of Economics

Strasbourg

Education

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2013–2022

7.155

There appears to be one constant about academic buildings : they require extensions, often at the cost of their own initial qualities. In this case a new library and a cafeteria are required, in addition to the reorganization of an existing building and the spatial restructuring of an interior street. The obvious answer to the competition brief would have been to place a new volume in the – so far logistic - courtyard around which the school is built. This is the only outside space of the site and a potential common space. Our proposal was to remove unnecessary elements such as an underused parking floor and to slide a one layer library under a semi-raised public surface. On top of this court a cafeteria is positioned as a pavilion. It takes the form of the loop that is needed to enable deliveries on the square. A large void that perforates the pavilion, three skylights that take the form of benches and the square sloping up at the front create three ways to bring natural daylight to the library level. The intervention in the interior street is comparable to this strategy. Instead of adding, existing floor slabs are demolished in order to create a triple height entrance space that brings light to all the different levels. This unification of the space makes specific issues, such as a reception desk, a student lobby and a suspended bridge more visible.

Location
Strasbourg
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2013–2022
Size (m²)
7.155

Client
Région Alsace
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Solène Le Gallo, Yago Ryosuke, Michel Sikorski, Benoit Streicher
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Solène Le Gallo,Yannick Vergnaud, with Antoine Chaudemanche, Elisabeth D’Aubarede, Mathilde Dutilleul, Felix Forthmeijer, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Claire Lootens, Yago Ryosuke, Michel Sikorski, Benoit Streicher, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Rui Zenha
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Solène Le Gallo, Simon Vellut, with Antoine Chaudemanche, Yannick Vergnaud
Consultants
Bollinger-Grohmann (structure)
Alto Ingénierie (mechanical)
Cholley (Economy)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
168

Teleport

Toulouse

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2010

6.900

Our proposal for the Toulouse teleport project tries to highlight and sublimate the mechanical bodies that constitute these specific infrastructures, by integrating them into the existing landscape.
The shells of the stations, in fact, besides unifying the different elements, evoke the dynamics of the system in a simple and direct way, while the mesh covering the pylons is meant to be perceived by the spectator-user like a shimmering and ever-changing skin.

Location
Toulouse
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2010
Size (m²)
6.900

Client
Tisséo
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis, Piet Crevits, Wouter Van Daele
Consultants
Bet Ingenierie (structure)
167

Ostend Waterfront

Ostend

Urban

Competition

Competition

2012

4.000

In the last century, the Belgian coast has undergone a massive transformation. The scarcity of the coast is largely responsible for its success, as only 6 millimeters of coast are available for every Belgian. The building boom of the 1950s, held in check by simple regulations, led to the constitution of a fragmented linear city.
During the summer months the coast becomes the largest public space in the country, with an intensity of 30 people per linear meter; it has hence evolved from a purely natural environment to an urban area.
In order to protect the land from the sea, the open space is traditionally divided into an upper part and a lower part, a solid part and a soft part, an “urban” part and an “Arcadian” part. Transitioning between the two, the sea wall is a necessity and is now in need for improvement.
The proposal essentially consists of adding an urban form as a link between the seawall and the beach. The sloping surface of the dyke is replaced by a wide staircase that removes the spatial separation between the two and creates an urban object dedicated to recreation.

Location
Ostend
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2012
Size (m²)
4.000

Client
City of Ostend
Surface           400 linear m
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Benoit Streicher, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Willem Van Besien, Marie-Pierre Van de Putte
Consultants
ISL Ingénierie, Ester Goris (structure & sustainability)
Roeland Dudal (support)
166

Elia

Zeebrugge

Urban

Competition

Competition

2012

136.000

The context around the site is determined by the collision between the Belgian coast and the linear city and port of Zeebrugge. The environment can be read on a smaller scale as a patchwork of fragments, from the old to the new: pieces of the city, the beach, the port, the green areas, the industry and the agriculture, separated by road and rail infrastructure.
How can a company that manages large-scale electricity networks -specifically as far as England- position itself within this context?
Industrial installations often carry an intrinsic beauty linked to the mechanical logic that governs them. But this does not mean that ELIA want to express itself through this kind of image: in this context where living is in proximity of industry, in fact, this could provide a new element of friction.
We also do not want to hide the technical installations under an architectural coat. Our first proposal is to remove all installations and structures from sight by covering them in white: the contrast with the green of the surrounding park will reinforce the specificity of the installation.
The second step is to build the facilities on the ground floor and bring the park to a higher level, so that the wall effect disappears and the facilities are visible from above. This break in levels ensures absolute safety and produces an effective acoustic barrier effect.
For the park, we propose an artificial landscape built by parallel greens dikes ten meters high, which diagonally cut the two plots. The repeating pattern connects the two sites and ensures visual coherence from all orientations: the park opens in one direction, and closes in the other.
This green sculpture is also a public garden for the residents: a stop for tram, trees, stairs, water games and a stage invite to ownership. The aesthetic concerns involved respond perfectly to daily, frequent and varied use.

Location
Zeebrugge
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2012
Size (m²)
136.000

Client
ELIA
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Lieven De Boeck, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Benoit Streicher, Willem Van Besien, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte
165

Jonction

Brussels

Cultural

Commission

Completed

2012

16

The Jonction has always been of national importance: designed as the aorta of an already very dense rail network to form the main link between the north and south of the country, it has today become the main albeit spluttering tool of the Belgian metropolis and the world of commuters who travel to and from the capital every day.
The limitless scattering of settlements in Belgium makes it very difficult to organise an efficient public service network. If public transport wishes to be a real alternative to cars, it is essential to reduce the number of changes of transport per journey in the daily trip between home and work.
In this context, the Jonction is an indispensible tool. It can even be considered to be a counterweight to the geographical scattering because it eliminates the metro as third means of transport; it feeds the city centre, Quartier Nord and the neighbour around Midi Station very directly.
However, the Jonction is also exclusive. The west of the city does not benefit from it at all and it does not provide access to the main hub of administrative activity in Brussels, the Léopold neighbourhood, where most institutions, regional, national and international, are concentrated.
The North-South fixation has also rendered the accessibility of the capital from the east and the west inefficient and circuitous. From Namur you enter the city centre at Nord Station; from Ghent at Midi Station.
In that sense, the route of the Jonction is unsuitable today. Rather than doubling the capacity of the Jonction we propose a perpendicular split, to create more balanced access to the centre. An East-West Jonction provides perfect accessibility to the Léopold neighbourhood; it confirms the importance and the convenience for Brussels of Central Station and in the end enables the genuine urban development of the west of the city.
The existing topography of the city prompts a hybrid solution: in the west the new Jonction races over the lower town in a viaduct, before boring into the upper town at Mont des Arts to connect to the underground infrastructure of Luxembourg and Schuman Stations.

Location
Brussels
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Commission
Status
Completed
Year
2012
Size (m²)
16

Client
Bouwmeester Brussels
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Pierre Burquel, Antoine Chaudemanche, Lieven De Boeck, Eline Dehullu, Arie Gruijters, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Pauline Lavie, Federico Pedrini
Consultants
Tritel (mobility)
Textiellab (manufacturing)
Photos
Philippe De Gobert
164

Porte de Ninove

Bruxelles

Urban

Study

Completed

2013

60.000

The building site of Porte de Ninove is situated at the intersection of three very distinct neighbourhoods and municipalities. This connection is now used very little because of the situation experienced: the relatively chaotic layout of the existing buildings together with the complexity and the importance of the infrastructure networks have transformed the Porte de Ninove in a place void of interest, program and use. It is a highly strategic site in the Brussels metropolis; at the crossroads of rupturing territories, connected to two major infrastructure - the Canal and the little belt - it is the biggest free site with building rights next to the downtown core. The opportunity it offers in terms of development is extremely promising: large catchment area, low competition attractiveness, political expectations and proper accessibility.
The project is organized along two lines of approach: the quality of public space on the one hand, and opportunities for high-rise building on the other. The recommendations in the pre-feasibility study showed the programmatic possibilities of public or commercial exploitation, quality of views and orientation, surface treatment and interconnections to the already undertaken efforts in terms of public space in the Canal Zone.

Location
Bruxelles
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2013
Size (m²)
60.000

Client
SLRB + BeSIX
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Yago Ryosuke
Consultants
Alto Ingénierie (energy)
Tractebel tritel (mobility)
163

National Stadium Japan

Tokyo

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2012

362.000

We consider the new stadium as a piece of three-dimensional city fabric. This idea allows not only to fully accommodate all kinds of accompanying events, but also to link the new stadium
to the existing public and private transport-infrastructure and to the surrounding sports-buildings and the Shibuya park. Therefore, the maximum envelope is considered as a given form in which a network of public spaces are excavated: the bowl, an urban plaza, a park extension, the main circulation and the required disaster space. The shape of the envelope, with different types of perforations according to the different functions behind, offers a true iconic alternative to the typical stadium building. The roof of the stadium is thought of as a retractable balloon; when open, the Zeppelin marks the Tokyo skyline.
The site benefits from significant existing motorway and public transport networks. These consist of associated road access infrastructure together with existing potential public transport access systems (train and underground stations). The proposed scheme embraces these aforementioned connections in two Levels: +24 for vehicles and Level +34 for pedestrians.
A direct connection has been created by introducing a 12 000 m² bridge park for the Shibuya ward. The bridge connects Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium at level +34. The park acts as a public space in case of a disaster. An Urban Plaza is designed in the south half of the building, directly linked to: the sky, accesses to the main road and to the new proposed park.
All tiers are optimised for athletics mode; nevertheless the geometry has been developed to allow alternative events, such as football, rugby and concerts. In football and rugby event, the lower tier is brought closer to the pitch and continues to be serviced by existing toilets and concessions.
The building has 3 different grids: the stadium and roof have radial Grid and the rest of the building has a standard horizontal grid (16m x16m), the moving roof structure will have its own independent logic.

Location
Tokyo
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2012
Size (m²)
362.000

Client
Japan Sport Council
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Sara Noel Costa De Araujo, Leo Ferretto, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Pauline Lavie, Federico Pedrini, Yago Ryosuke, Yuichiro Suzuki, Willem van Besien, Rui Zenha.
Consultants
Bollinger & Grohmann (structure, techniques)
161

161_Book

Brussels

Publication

Commission

Published

2012–2013

–

Xaveer De Geyter is a Brussels firm known for progressive and provocative urban concepts. This approach gives XDGA a unique and relevant position in contemporary architecture. This book offers a survey of 34 of their projects from the nineties to the present; Christophe Van Gerrewey has written 26 alphabetically arranged chapters in which he analyses the work in various ways. The resulting interaction between words and projects is essential for anyone interested in the firm’s polemical and critical position towards the built environment.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition XDGA_160 EXPO at the CIVA in Brussels (08.11.2013 - 26.01.2014)

Location
Brussels
Type
Publication
Procedure
Commission
Status
Published
Year
2012–2013
Size (m²)
–

Publisher
Lannoo Publishers, TieltArchitect
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, Eline Dehullu, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Ingrid Huyghe, Michael Smith, Louis Weiss, Ryosuke Yago
Consultants
Cristophe Van Gerrewey (texts)
Gregory Ball (translation)
Kim Beirnaert, Pierre Stubbe (graphics)
Photos
Frans Parthesius, Gilbert fastenaekens, Jan Kempenaers, André Nullens, Petra Stavast, Frederik Vercruysse, Han Werlemann, XDGA
160

160_EXPO

Brussels

Cultural

Competition

Built

2011–2013

–

This exhibition presents ‘material evidence’ of the reality of XDGA, while at the same time embodying the working ethic of the office. The exhibition displays and documents built projects, urban studies and competition entries. In the exhibition, nor the text nor the concept are prominent – yet the plan, the image and the model are. The material in the expo is as such narrowed down to 21 architectural models covered by plexiglass boxes, some tables with 48 projects, books and 5 videos where outsiders comment on XDGA’s practice.

Location
Brussels
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Built
Year
2011–2013
Size (m²)
–

Client
CIVA
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, Eline Dehullu, Louis Weiss, Guillaume Bostoen
Photos
CIVA
158

Z33

Hasselt

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2012

2.980

An existing Arts and Design centre inhabits a picturesque collection of buildings from different periods in the setting of a former convent, including a chapel ruin at its centre.
The site, a green and walled oasis, is embedded in the city centre. The intimacy and variety of the museum’s existing repertoire is to be further expanded with the insertion of a new building offering new levels of flexibility and curatorial potential.
Minimalist interventions in both the old buildings and the outside spaces allow to improve the general logistics of the museum. The new building is conceived as an architectural translation of the unique working method of the Arts centre. It is imagined as a machine in which the whole process of an art project, from the conception to the making and from the exhibition to the conservation can be realised. Borders between research and exhibition, between the museum’s infrastructure and the public circuit are being erased.
Next to an area for vertical circulation, the structure consists of a stacking of floors with different heights, interconnected through a large moving platform. The use of these floors and the in between mezzanines is not fixed and adapts to the nature of the work that is being produced. The variety of the stacked spaces is augmented by a series of facade elements that allow for different interior climate qualities and natural light atmospheres.

Location
Hasselt
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2012
Size (m²)
2.980

Client
Z33 House for Contemporary Art
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Guillaume Bostoen, Lieven De Boeck, Federico Pedrini, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Willem Van Besien, Arie Gruijters, Matthieu Hackenheimer
Consultants
Bollinger-Grohmann (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
157

Central Library

Helsinki

Education

Competition

Competition

2012

11.000

Two crucial demands need to be answered in this ’Heart of the Metropolis’: In urban terms, how should this most public building be rooted in a surrounding made of free-standing, public institutions gathered around a park? How and how much of its program should be revealed to the street?
Architecturally speaking, how to organise this public ‘living room’, while this sloganesque term in reality hides a complex organisation of different activities that happen simultaneously, with many different degrees of accessibility?
The concept we propose integrates these two issues in one single gesture. The answer to the first question also settles the whole program. Our main intervention in the planned cityscape is to slope upward the park surface - the agora in between the series of public institutions - towards the library site and to raise its entrance level.
This way it horizontally intersects the library program that is spread out over 4 architecturally different levels. Activities inside are revealed to the outside both from the entrance level, from the level floating above it and from below. The multiple library activities transform the park into a hyperactive, informal public area.
The horizontally layered building is cut through 3 different vertical cavities. A major, central lobby space connects all the levels, while patios on both ends provide light and views in between the layers.
The –transparent- entrance level consists of a number of opaque cores, stairs and structural elements that support a massive, floating volume on top. The lobby space, the restaurant and eventually a bookshop form three distinct glass halls in the park. Together with the cavities, the entrance level becomes an adventurous topography and sculpture park, composed from necessary services, shafts, connections and light-wells. Under the park, but on street level, a series of public programs that function independently from the library are lined up: the cinema, café, sauna, living lab and the multipurpose hall that pops up in the park. On the street side, servicing programs such as staff and delivery are organised. The historic building becomes a sunken cavity in the park and functions as a terrace for the café.
The library itself is organised in the massive floating volume on top in two distinct layers : a big, market-like hall, with the books stacked along the outer walls and lit from above, houses the collection but also parts of the learning and doing program, such as lounges, client service points, quiet areas and even the children’s world program. Right under this hall one finds the opposite condition: a checkerboard plan of rooms of different sizes allow for activities that need some degree of separation. Most of the listening, teaching, working, making and exchanging happens here. This level is linked to the hall above through a multitude of stairs, openings and light-wells, and again through the main lobby space.
Exposing part of the program means that other parts are withdrawn from public space. Opposed to the transparency of the entrance level and to the look-through vertical incisions, the main floating volume is conceived as a porous, concrete box with small, cavity-like windows that allow for rather restricted views to the outside.

Location
Helsinki
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2012
Size (m²)
11.000

Client
City of Helsinki
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Federico Pedrini, Benoit Streicher
Consultants
Transsolar (sustainability)
156

Canal Plan

Brussels

Urban

Study

Completed

2012

>5.000.000

Brussels is not born out of the Canal. Contrary to some cities that have a very maternal link to their river, the Canal has been imposed on Brussels’ urbanism and is now a perturbation that divides more than unites. Beyond any emotional concern to the Canal, the study avoids naïve romanticism –Canal = leisure- or pessimistic sociology –the good side and the bad side-, to concentrate on a much more systematic action: the Canal is rhetorically divided in blocks of 2km wide, 1km long, and analysed through thematic filters, to produce a new cartography to emphasize the position of the Canal in Brussels metropolitan area. 1 kilometre is a very urban dimension; in Brussels the fabric is punctuated by sequences of that dimension, inherited either from the Leopold era or the Bruxellisation. ‘Urbanism by the kilometre’ avoids strictly figurative actions to impose a fair repartition of the interventions, with no contextual concern that would prevent complete objectivity. The attention to public space is the spine of the vision, the key to any intervention, and reaches its climax in the central part: a public square that stretches 1 kilometre to cover the Canal and allows for multiple uses and creates a strong link between both sides of the city.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2012
Size (m²)
>5.000.000

Client
Région Bruxelles Capitale
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Federico Pedrini
Consultants
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Eric Corijn (sociology)
Tritel (transport)
154

Noordwijk

Brussels

Urban

Study

Completed

2011

126.000

The study aims to produce a set of guidelines for the implantation of the Flemish Government in the North District of Brussels. It is divided in two parts, complementary while divergent and thus gathered upside-down in a document.
The first part analyses the area’s weaknesses and potentials, to extract 10 rules to be included to any new building planned in the North District. From urban coherence to architectural details, its goal is to give a strong frame in which the future development should fit, as a reaction to nowadays’ looseness of the rules: some of the proposals are purely adjustments in the existing situation; some others are strong inputs to a more volunteer dynamic.
The second side explores three extreme scenarios for the Flemish Government: there are 5.600 civil servants in the area, and the repartition of their presence weighs heavily in the district’s balance. Concentrated on one plot, spread over, or mixed with housing, the Flemish Government can influence the real-estate market also with their relationship to tenancy or ownership: if it all gathers in one building it owns, it will release a large amount of square meter, made available to the market; if it remains tenant throughout the district, it can create a network of focus points that revitalize the area. Behind the planning of a single building can lie a lot of changes in Noordwijk.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2011
Size (m²)
126.000

Client
Vlaamse Bouwmeester
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), with Dan Budik
Xaveer De Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert
Consultants
Transsolar (engineering)
IDEA consult (economy)
153

Meridiana

Nice

Urban

Competition

Competition

2011

260.000

To develop this new area of town, to move from the current situation – that of a periphery dominated by infrastructure - in an urban situation, we do not offer a drawing but a business process transformation project. This process is based on existing data, realities, internal dynamics on the site in question appropriate to exploit the potential or redirect it to coincide with the urban principles set.
What we propose is not a predefined shape, yet principles and rules that lead to the desired qualities: diversity, urbanity and sustainable environmental quality.

Location
Nice
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2011
Size (m²)
260.000

Client
EPA Plaine du var
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects) - FAA
Xaveer De Geyter, Pierre Burquel, Antoine Chaudemanche, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Michel Sikorski, Benoit Streicher, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte
Consultants
Floris Alkemade (partner architect)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Egis-Iosi (mobility)
Setec (programmer)
Inno TSD (economy)
Dominique Boudet (communication)
152

Lille 2030

Lille

Urban

Study

Completed

2011–2012

>5.000.000

Beyond Lille, toward the creation of a system of possibilities. Today the conurbation Lille-Roubaix-Tourcoing is an extended and continuous city.
1. The main boulevard is a huge potential. Just 100 years ago, the major boulevard was built on vacant land at the back of this city. Today it is actually the centre of an agglomeration of millions and its role should be reassessed. At this scale, a metropolitan modernity is yet to be invented and this boulevard is the best possible starting point.
The objective is to create, from the existing potential of the grand boulevard, two new economic centralities along it. The main boulevard is densified and the public space gets redesigned. This is to extend the benefit and dynamism of Euralille to Roubaix and Tourcoing. We propose to bring them closer together by improving the travel time between them, in order to promote the conditions of implementation of economic activities. This can be done by a prioritization of existing networks or by creating a new transport system.
2. We propose to bring Roubaix and Tourcoing 10 minutes from Lille train stations throughout the day.
3. Very Large Parks distributed evenly over the territory improve the living environment and enhance the green and blue systems.

Location
Lille
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2011–2012
Size (m²)
>5.000.000

Client
Lille Métropole Communauté urbaine (LMCU)
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Michel Sikorski, Pieter Coelis, Pierre Burquel, Solène Le Gallo, Solève Veysseyre, Stephanie Willocx
Consultants
Floris Alkemade (partner architect)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
149

Silo Building

Leuven

Residential

Competition, 1st Prize

Ongoing

2011–

54.468

The project for the redevelopment of Leuven’s iconic Silo building lies on the canal basin of the city’s Two Waters district. A cluster of 56 enormous concrete cylinders more than 70m high are to be redeveloped as residential units and a hotel with cultural and public facilities at ground level. Above the silos and cantilevering over a new public square addressing the basin, a horizontal volume hovers providing further space for residences and offices. Occupying the space between the two, a publicly accessible terrace with restaurants offers a truly unique urban balcony with panoramic city views.

Location
Leuven
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Ongoing
Year
2011–
Size (m²)
54.468

Client
Ertzberg
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Wesley Aelbrecht, Jonathan Koellreuter, Jarrik Ouburg, David Schmitz
design: Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele, Ingrid Huyghe, Tom Bonnevalle, Issa Driesen, Nenad Duric, Pauline Lavie, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Rui Zenha
Consultants
Bollinger-Grohmann (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical, sustainability)
Daidalos-Peutz (acoustics)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
148

Boulogne-Billancourt

Boulogne-Billancourt

Residential

Commission

Built

2012–2015

22.000

These two buildings are inserted in the masterplan of architect-urbanistes Alkemade-Beal-Blanckaert, also part of a wider scope: the trapezoid of Boulogne-Billancourt, site of the former Renault factory. The buildings are located at the corner of the macrolot facing the park Billancourt. They develop over 13 levels including 2 infrastructure for parking vehicles. The upper floors enjoy views: the Seine, the hills of Meudon and the Eiffel Tower. The program consists of a small public facility (multipurpose room of 300 m²) and 185 units (135 units for sale and 50 social housing), variable types (T1 to T6 30 m² 230 m²) for a total of about 15,000 m². Volumes of penthouse apartments have duplex with double height living room and, for some, patios.

Location
Boulogne-Billancourt
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2012–2015
Size (m²)
22.000

Client
Icade Promotion
Architect
Xaveer De Geyter, Menelik Jobert, Benoit Streicher, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Yannick Vergnaud
Partner Architect
FAA – Floris Alkemade Architect
Consultants
SNC Lavalin (structure)
Veritas (mechanical, sustainability)
Socotec (control)
Beal – Blanckaert (coordination)
Photos
XDGA-Matthis Van Rossen
146

Province Headquarters

Antwerp

Civic

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2013–2022

33.000

The new building replaces a complex of modernist building volumes that used to occupy the entire site and that could not be adapted to today’s sustainability standards. As the Antwerp city centre has few public green surfaces, the transformation of the site from a merely private, mineral and infrastructural area into a public garden is a crucial requirement of the competition brief. Surrounded by fragments of public green, the parcel is key to the formation of a larger, coherent park. Another – contradictory - demand was to maintain a more recent representational pavillion, which was positioned as an obstacle in between the fragments.
By situating the full program in a compact volume across the pavilion, this frontage is cut up and the main entrance is brought close to the street. This large volume, however, divides the park in a front and a back garden. Finally, by rotating the plan around one of its corners as it climbs up, the building shifts towards the centre; existing neighbouring buildings are respected and a sculptural form emerges. During the design process the pavillion building is at last replaced by a glazed volume to house the congress and exhibition part of the programme.
The building is conceived as a bridge structure over and across the pavillion. At the center of the plan one large steel truss spans from one core to the other. Two more trusses are integrated in the concrete side walls and their triangulation defines the form of the window openings. In a next step this window form is applied all over the building as it turns out to be very efficient when it comes to an ideal balance between daylight access and overheating by the sun. The opaque façade is clad in circular, white glass mosaic while the pavilion is a fully transparent box in the park.

Location
Antwerp
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2013–2022
Size (m²)
33.000

Client
Province of Antwerp
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Christophe Antipas, Lieven De Boeck, Yannis Igodt, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Federico Pedrini, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Yannis Igodt, with Doug Allard, David Ampe, Tom Bonnevalle, Karel Bruyland, Elena Caruso, Joris De Greef, Denisse Florea, Arie Gruijters, Annelotte Herrebosch, Willem Van Besien, Peter Vande Maele, Yannick Vergnaud, Stéphanie Willocx
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Tom Bonnevalle, Yannis Igodt, with Joris De Greef, Arie Gruijters, Annelotte Herrebosch
Consultants
Bollinger + Grohmann (structure)
Boydens (techniques)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Transsolar (competition phase - energy)
Photos
Maxime Delvaux
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
145

Tour & Taxis M Zone

Brussels

Urban

Study

Completed

2011

223.800

The area of Tour & Taxis intrigues: totally flush with the Canal, with buildings that stand out for their rational plan, and with an open space that has nothing to do with the surrounding neighbourhoods in scale.
This part of the district of Molenbeek lacks the public space that abounds within the property.
The main issues for the M zone are: residential quality with greenery, dwelling density potential and type of public space. Essential is the question of the precise quality that the open space should have, considering that a park is already planned as the central backbone of T & T. Compared to a ‘carpet’ of buildings scattered throughout the area, this configuration returns a more public structure, certain clarity and many possible uses. All the different types of accommodation can be combined without conflict. The required density is obtained without effort, the complementary and ancillary programs descend in a simple and ordered way. The basic shape of the built perimeter is carved from the program and adapted depending on the environments. Openings in the form of verandas, balconies and windows are made from the built mass, and a volume is raised in the middle of the side facing the main park.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2011
Size (m²)
223.800

Client
PROJECT T&T nv/sa
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Christophe Antipas, Yannis Igodt, Federico Pedrini, Rui Zenha
Consultants
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical, sustainability)
143

GZA Residential Care Centre

Kiel

Healthcare

Commission

Built

2011–2017

17.250

The program demands for two separate buildings to be installed on top of a collective parking garage. The context around the site is intriguingly diverse. On this spot, in fact, a former convent garden, a football stadium and a housing neighborhood collide. One city block, composed of juxtaposed townhouses remains unfinished. In order to give new evidence to the situation, two similar forms are inserted. One is a freestanding volume in the park, while the other completes the city block as well as the rectangular garden.

The residential care centre comprises of a ground floor level with all the collective functions, including a cafeteria, and four levels of individual rooms with their own common living area. This fluid space on the inside of the bend annihilates the typical corridor that usually ‘institutionalizes’ care centres. The mirrored and glazed facades reflect the park.
The service flats are more massive, inscribing themselves in the city block. They are accessed on the side of the courtyard through outside galleries. The apartments have an open plan anchored around a central core containing the bathroom, a kitchen, and storage and can be flexibly divided with semi-transparent sliding walls. Additionally, an indoor terrace that can be closed in winter and used as extra interior space is provided.

Location
Kiel
Type
Healthcare
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2011–2017
Size (m²)
17.250

Client
GZA vzw
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Tom Bonnevalle, Karel Bruyland, Piet Crevits, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Willem Van Besien, Peter Vande Maele
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Willem Van Besien, Peter Vande Maele, with Doug Allard, David Ampe, Guillaume Bostoen, Karel Bruyland, Hanne Defloor, Joris De Greef, Arie Gruijters, Matthieu Hackenheimer, Paul Emmanuel Lambert, Cristian Panaité, Yago Ryosuke, Stéphanie Willocx
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Willem Van Besien, Peter Vande Maele
Consultants
BEC (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical)
Daidalos-Peutz (acousitics)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
142

Lycée Hotelier

Lille

Education

Competition

Competition

2011

25.000

The main idea of the project is the one to accommodate the coexistence between the old and the new, hence attributing an overall sense of coherence to the site.
The rationality of the existing industrial building is, in fact, coupled with the new informal and sculptural architecture.
These two ‘separate worlds’ of the institution – education and life – are stitched together by a diagonal walkway crossing and are distinct in expression: the former is rationally organised in the part of the ‘halls’, while the latter is conceived as an autonomous micro-city.
In addition to this main, structuring circulation axis, other punctual elements give access to the green roof of the school, a semi-public space punctuated by patios that allow for natural light to reach the heart of the building.

Location
Lille
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2011
Size (m²)
25.000

Client
City of Lille
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Consultants
Bollinger + Grohmann (structure)
Ginger (techniques, economy)
141

Airport Extension

Geneva

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2011

37.567

For the enlargement of the airport there is hardly any space available.
Logistic restrictions on the airside, existing buildings on the landside - one of them being a IATA premise that needs to continue overlooking the airstrip -, fixed connecting points to the main airport building, and the need to maintain the use of the site as an actual road, together form a true straitjacket for the new building.
On the other hand, the terminal building needs to be of absolute clear organisation and future flexibility.
Our answer is a centipede-like organism, a bridge-building consisting of a 540 meter long, floating, transparent volume that frees the ground level as much as possible. It is flanked on both sides by a set of massive, vertical volumes. Where the airplanes taxi, these volumes contain aircraft accesses and they are placed at equal intervals. On the other side they are placed irregularly, as they follow restrictions coming from the adjacent buildings, as well as functional needs for non-continuous programs such as commercial kiosks, toilets and specific vertical circulations.
The horizontal volume consists of two embarkation levels and an arrival corridor that is suspended underneath, exactly at the level of aircraft access doors.
The supporting vertical volumes, made in black concrete, liberate the ground as much as possible in order to give maximum space to airport buses, logistic services for the aircraft, luggage handling and the ‘route française’, a direct road between France and the airport. The floating volume is a construction in steel with both façades that act as interior trusses making the span between the concrete volumes.
The fully glazed façades follow the diagonal steel structure and on airside the diamond-shaped glass panes are installed at various angles in order to better reflect the noise of the aircrafts.

Location
Geneva
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2011
Size (m²)
37.567

Client
Geneva International Airport
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architectsà
Xaveer De Geyter, Pauline Lavie, Federico Pedrini, Christin Svensson
Consultants
Bureau Dan Budik (partner architect)
Ernst Basler & Partner (structure)
Ernst Basler & Partner (mechanical)
Logplan (consultant)
140

Spectacle Space

Rambouillet

Cultural

Competition

Competition

3.000

The block is characterized by a series of autonomous built volumes developed on independent plots. The requested implementation of a public program does not seek to interfere with this configuration, yet it aims at a harmonious integration with it.
The result is a horizontal “network”, in which the entire public program offered is accessible without any interruption, hence favoring the mixing of both activities and users.
Flexibility and a wondering route through the different parts of the project, ultimately contribute to the creation of a ‘cultural village’.

Location
Rambouillet
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Size (m²)
3.000

Client
City of Rambouillet
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Vincent Chalot, Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Michael Smith, Miguel Valerio
Consultants
DVVD (structure)
Ginger (mechanical)
VPE (economy)
139

Schuman Square

Brussels

Urban

Competition, 1st Prize

Discontinued

2010–2017

59.088

When it comes to represent political power in public space, Place Schuman is probably the most important location in Europe, as most of its Institutions are concentrated around it. One may wonder whether this representation issue is still valid today, yet most newscasts on European affairs are up until today introduced with the square as a backdrop, and political manifestations of all sizes are held there on a daily basis.
The reality today is that it is just a very busy roundabout with an unreachable center point. While the competition asked for an iconic space for a democratic Europe, the starting point of the proposal was to strongly reduce the impact of the car through the underground rerouting of transit traffic. Another demand was to integrate access points to the metro station and towards a newly built underground railway station.
At the center of the space, and along the axis of this most powerful corridor of regional, national and international power in the country, the ground is lifted in the form of a shell shaped amphitheater. The intervention serves not only as an auditorium or amphitheater but also as an arena, a stand, a meeting place and a forum for open debate; an open-air parliament. This highly symbolic gesture provides a neutral and inclusive facility for politics, journalism, culture, sports events and manifestations alike. Under the shell, and on both sides of it, two new escalators lead to the public transport infrastructure, across a reorganised underground space that is left-over in between car traffic tunnels.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Discontinued
Year
2010–2017
Size (m²)
59.088

Client
Brussels Capital Region
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele − Paul-Emmanuel Lambert, Pauline Lavie, Federico Pedrini, Rui Zenha de Pinho
project: Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele, Federico Pedrini
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Technum (traffic)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
138

Grand Bruxelles

Brussels

Urban

Study

Discontinued

2010

>5.000.000

Brussels, a small metropolis bathed in the vast urban fog of the Low Countries, is not an isolated city: it operates within a complex economic and political environment. Today its centrality is questioned, as the point of gravity of the European Union is shifting towards the East. Its endemic spread must be stopped in favour of a densification of cities. The solutions proposed for 2040 mainly involve strengthening or creating urban centralities, around a structuring and efficient public transport network. What density should be considered for Brussels? We could bring in people from the periphery to achieve a fiscal balance. Absorbing 200,000 people in the city in thirty years will require a considerable effort in terms of housing, but it also means increasing the amount of public space, equipment and workplaces by 20%. Even if Brussels is considered as a city well served in green spaces, these are not always accessible. The densification of the built fabric could in return free up green territories.
The most immediate step will be to optimize the use and conversion of what already exists. The city fragments marked by a low spatial quality must be identified and stimulated in the direction of a positive reconversion: these are areas of opportunity. Public transport solutions can become generators of new mixed urban poles. New projects, buildings and public spaces can reinforce the existing urban structure of Brussels and intensify its specificity and richness by taking advantage of its differentiated, contrasting morphology and its unfinished character. Several areas of very different nature have already been defined as places for future development. They are both essential and potentially life-saving. Brussels would benefit from a clear physical limit, the Ring, which would make a clear distinction between city and outskirts.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Discontinued
Year
2010
Size (m²)
>5.000.000

Client
Région de Bruxelles-Capitale
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter Van Daele, Federico Pedrini
Consultants
Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Tritel (mobility)
3E (energy)
136

Gasthuisberg

Leuven

Cultural

Competition

Discontinued

2010

4.844

The new Alma and Learning Centre is located in an inner area, a “residual area” of approximately 15,000 m², situated between large-scaled hospital buildings, that fail however to form a coherent system.
The chaotic character of the site, in fact, begs for a central object/function that can rearrange it in all directions, while aiming at dealing with the passage between public to private (in the north-south direction). Specifically, this gradation, not only coincides with the descending terrain topography, but also dictates the programme’s distribution (from logistics to the restaurant).
A glass volume hosting the learning centre finally sits on top of this underground and semi-underground chain of spaces and signals the development towards the city.

Location
Leuven
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Discontinued
Year
2010
Size (m²)
4.844

Client
KUL - Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Michael Smith, Wouter Van Daele
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanics, sustainability)
132

Aerospace Campus

Toulouse

Urban

Competition, 1st Prize

Discontinued

2010

609.000

The city center of Toulouse is dense.
There is no central park as the ‘Vondelpark in Amsterdam or contemporary large-scale park as the park of La Villette in Paris.
By its proximity to the site it offers immense potential to correct the lack of park retroactively even if the site is somewhat eccentric. The banks of the canal can, in fact, proposed to link the city center with an integrated green network of the new park.
The topography of the park climbs up slowly to span the periphery, provides a sound protection from traffic and a physical link between the two sides of the park and the artery of canal. The new park is defined by a green rectangular frame of newly planted trees, which gives a clear and highly recognizable element that organizes all the surrounding urban morphologies.
This frame also allows the definition of CREPS side without disturbing the trees and existing facilities.

Location
Toulouse
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Discontinued
Year
2010
Size (m²)
609.000

Client
Urban community of Greater Toulouse
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects) / FAA (Floris Alkemade Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Doug Allard, Michael Smith, Wouter Van Daele
Consultants
Puig Pujol Architectures, Sutter Taillandier Architectes (partner architects)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Ginger (transport)
130

Paris-Saclay

Paris

Urban

Commission

Under construction

2009–

>5.000.000

The master planning project for the Saclay plateau is a real challenge in terms of scale.
The 385 km² site is located southeast of Paris and stretches from Versailles until Massy, a distance of more than 25 km. The site is meant to host research facilities, different universities and their related functions. In total, more than 5 000 000 m² will be built here, in order to develop this area towards an internationally leading Cluster of technology and science.
The master plan proposes a rather compact urbanisation as to preserve the existing agriculture and uses the landscape and the public space as main structural elements for the new university campus layout. A new metro line links the area to the surroundings as well as to the Paris city centre.
The campus Paris-Saclay is designed as an archipelago of different districts linked by a chain of public spaces and parks, co-existing in harmony with the existing agriculture and landscape. The construction of the different buildings is already well under way.

Location
Paris
Type
Urban
Procedure
Commission
Status
Under construction
Year
2009–
Size (m²)
>5.000.000

Client
French Government Agency EPPS
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
FAA (Floris Alkemade Architect)
Consultants
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (mandatary - landscape)
Tractebel (mobility)
Arep (mobility)
Setec TPI (infrastructure)
Alto Step (environment)
Photos
Altclic, Sébastien d'Halloy, XDGA
Images
weissimages
Illustration
Eva Le Roi
126

PAPS

Strasbourg

Education

Competition

Competition

2009

12.500

The new PAPS facility for the University of Strasbourg is to be realized on the site of a historic hospital. XDGA proposes to radically open up the site and to make it accessible for University personnel, students and public alike. By lifting the main volume off the ground, an open and inviting relationship is created which physically and visually links the surrounding streets with the previously inaccessible internal gardens. The surface of the main arrival level slopes both upwards to the raised volume and downwards to a sunken library. These slopes are used as auditoria, general vertical connections, reading rooms and informal meeting places. At the centre of the building, a full height atrium with a removable soft roof brings natural light into the heart of the classrooms and offices.

Location
Strasbourg
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2009
Size (m²)
12.500

Client
Pôle d’ Administration Public de Strasbourg (PAPS)
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Eunkyung Lee, Michel Sikorski, Michael Smith, Rui Zenha de Pinho
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Alto Ingénierie (mechanical)
Peutz (acoustics)
Cholley (financial control)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
124

The Circle

Zürich

Urban

Competition

Competition

2009

311.644

The first decision is to unify the central piece of greenery and the building program into one whole, by tracing a circle around the green area and along the inner edge of the building site. This overall gesture, visible from the air and from the roads around the area, is materialised by a classical colonnade that redefines the nature into a park and that protects it visually and acoustically from its noisy and busy surroundings. The colonnade is crowned by a one kilometre long running track, which itself is directly accessible from the health and beauty department and from the hotels.

Location
Zürich
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2009
Size (m²)
311.644

Client
Flughagen Zürich
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), with Dan Budik
Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Eunkyung Lee, Michael Smith, Wouter Van Daele, Peter Vande Maele, Rui Zenha
Consultants
Ney & Partners ( structure)
B+P Baurealisation (construction)
Bakus (techniques)
Front Inc. (façade)
123

Multifunctional Complex

Venlo

Urban

Study

Completed

2009–2010

135.000

The site of former military barracks is ready to be developed as a future extension of the town of Venlo. It consists of a large-scale multi-functional complex comprising housing, offices, a shopping centre, a casino, and a football stadium.
The city's first request was to develop three different urban scenarios. After consultation with the inhabitants, one scenario was finally adopted: the linear development of all the new programs along one side of the site.
A new bridge connects the city centre to the extension; it contains the new railway station, which is planned to replace the two old ones.
The new stadium is surrounded by the leisure part of the new complex. As a result, the latter has two completely different facades; one overlooking the stadium and one oriented towards the urban context.
The rest of the site is planted with a grid of tall canopy trees.

Location
Venlo
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2009–2010
Size (m²)
135.000

Client
City of Venlo
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Yannis Igodt, with Christophe Antipas, Vincent Chalot, Pieter Coelis, Laurent Liefhooghe, Federico Pedrini, David Schmitz, Christin Svensson, Wouter Van Daele, Peter Vande Maele, Rui Zehna de Pinho
Consultants
XDGA, Made by Mistake (model)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
122

Nørreport Station

Copenhagen

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2009

15.710

The area is a major public transport knot at the edge of the medieval city center, serviced underground by both trains and a metro-line. The public space on top is dominated by a sea of bicycles, scattered pavillions and a battery of large ventilation shafts: a non-place. A first intervention is to organise all bicycle parkings in a user-friendly, new underground volume, stretched along the existing tunnel. It is bent in two directions, as it follows the tunnel in plan, and in section it is conceived as one long ramp. At its lowest point it gives access to existing stairways leading to the station. The second is the unification of the whole pedestrian zone through a pattern of circular, light-reflecting paving. Finally, at the centre, a new structure, in the form of an open hall, ‘grasps’ the space and marks the spot. It is installed parallely to the street and the station, while a series of cut outs address the perpendicular streets. It is made of a single visible sheet of steel, bent in the form of a catenary curve, without additional structural elements. The inside is ultimately clad in leaf gold while on the outside the steel is apparent.

Location
Copenhagen
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2009
Size (m²)
15.710

Client
City of Copenhagen, Rail Net Denmark and DSB
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter Van Daele, Rui Zenha
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
118

Warehouse MacDonald

Paris

Urban

Commission

Built

2008–2017

150.000

The project consists of a masterplan, the rehabilitation and the extension of a 600m long warehouse, situated on the Boulevard MacDonald in the north of Paris. Based on the urban plan of OMA in collaboration with Floris Alkemade, the office of XDGA will coordinate the realization of the whole program with a team of ten internationally renowned architecture offices. Besides the coordination XDGA will design the complete program of retail and a plot of housing.

Location
Paris
Type
Urban
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2008–2017
Size (m²)
150.000

Client
Paris Nord Est
Architect
XDGA – FAA (Floris Alkemade Architect)
Xaveer De Geyter, Christophe Antipas, Emilie Augeard, Tom Bonnevalle, Jérémie Brault, Pierre Burquel, Pieter Coelis, Beatrice Colaiacomo, Elisabeth D’Aubarède, Mathilde Dutilleul, Leo Ferretto, Felix Fortmeijer, Léonard Gallegos, Ester Goris, Eunkyung Lee, Solène Le Gallo, Eric Lenaerts, Laurent Liefooghe, Laurent Machet, Daniel Nuñez Gonzalez, Cristian Panaité, Federico Pedrini, Mickael Peixoto, Yago Ryosuke, Jean-Philippe Sanfourche, Michel Sikorski, Michael Smith, Benoit Streicher, Foucault Tiberghien, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, Martin Van Schaik, Yannick Vergnaud, Emmanuel Villoutreix, Yuichiro Suzuki, Rui Zenha
Consultants
SETEC (structure)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
TESS (facade), CASSO (fire safety)
EN+/Alto Ingénierie (Energy)
Photos
XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
117

Swiss-Re

Zürich

Civic

Competition

Competition

2008

20.000

Apart from the exceptional lakeside condition, it is the somewhat hidden qualities of the existing situation that are most intriguing. The first quality is that the existing central building is linked to all the neighbouring premises of the company through underground and above ground connections, and that the new building that will replace it will function as a centripetal platform between these different entities. The second one is that after the former building will be demolished, a huge underground space will become available, for once not destined to be completely consumed by car parking.
The project proposes to confiscate this space by installing a sunken sculpture garden, in which a freestanding, compact and cubic new building is positioned. It is a space that is shared with the city: the garden is fully visible from the surrounding streets while the new volume’s compactness
offers the buildings behind a view onto the lake. The cube stands floating in it and the various underground tunnels are transformed into passages hanging in the garden, transforming the trajectories into a spatial scenery.
A composition made up from both very deep and high floors, voids interconnecting them and vertical circulation shafts crossing them, defines the main building. This results in spatial diversity and complexity, and in a workspace that provokes a multitude of different relations between people in order to enhance a cooperative climate. A large void at the entrance lobby links the new building with the passages and with the sculpture garden, thus becoming the epicenter of the Swiss Re premises.
The disseminated shafts together form the supporting structure for the building. They support a grid of beams that are integrated in the top floor. From this grid, the edges of each floor are suspended through a diagonal steel mesh. The façades, made up from vertical and inclined glass panels reflect alternately the lake, the sky and the sculpture garden.

Location
Zürich
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2008
Size (m²)
20.000

Client
Swiss-Re
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Emilie Augeard, Christophe Antipas, Piet Crevits, Yannis Igodt, Eunkyung Lee, Laurent Liefooghe, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Wouter van Daele
Photos
Frans Parthesius
116

Rue de la Loi

Brussels

Urban

Competition

Competition

2008–2009

506.000

In 2008, an International competition was announced aiming at the urban transformation of Brussel’s notorious Wetstraat, the doubling of the existing office space and the addition of residential surfaces. In a wider context, there is the contentious issue concerning the urban integration of the European institutions within the city. Since the sixties, this collection of European buildings form a foreign body with rejection symptoms inside the city.
Our proposal takes on issues of density, urban mix, infrastructure and public space and does so by grouping them in a concentrated square of activity precisely at the moment where the well-defined section of the Wetstraat gives way to the more loose and campus-like condition which characterizes the European quarter and its collection of varied, large scale volumes. It is this crosshair location which is key; it offers an integrated presence in the well-defined urban structure of the former and takes advantage of the larger scale of the latter to accommodate the huge programmatic surfaces required. The result is a compact and efficient urban form, which intimately engages the roads and metro lines running underground and uses them to enliven and offer a metropolitan character to the block. Unapologetically imposing and yet deeply rooted in the urban fabric and logic of the situation, the complex of towers seems to have been hewn from far larger original volumes evident at the base where conference, shopping, lobbies and a lively public plaza give a rich sense of urbanity for all.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2008–2009
Size (m²)
506.000

Client
Brussels Capital Region
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele, Michael Smith – Emilie Augeard, Pieter Coelis, Lieven De Boeck, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Rui Zenha de Pinho
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Resource Analysis (sustainability, financial control)
Tritel (traffic)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
113

IMEC

Leuven

Civic

Competition

Competition

2008

13.000

How to express the identity of a company that focuses its research on inventions and products that are hardly visible to the naked eye ? How can architecture- a notoriously deterministic and final activity capture the essence of an organization founded on constant development, redefinition, evolution...
Instead of proposing some spectacular form for the building, we propose to re-imagine the outer skin of a rather normal, slender tower. We propose to turn the necessary sun protection screens on the outside of the building into a gigantic full height curtain that wraps around and envelopes the inner tower. In a sense, it is perhaps no longer one tower, but two; one stable and architectural enveloped by another ephemeral and constantly changing. Fabricated in very specific, high-tech mesh, the curtain combines high tensile resistance, sun protection, and a balanced degree of transparency from the inside, with interwoven flexible photo-voltaic cells. These cells -one of IMEC’s own products- thus become an integral part of the building’s identity and a tangible presence of their research in the city. The general image is one of a building that is at times mysteriously hidden and, according to changing weather conditions, partly revealed. The curtain forms a constantly moving, tingling, metallic veil that reflects all kinds of light.
The entrance to the tower is conceived as a full-width, vertical space that links directly to the level of the sky-bridge, through an open floor on the second level. This floor is organized as a lounge and meeting point. The ground level contains meeting rooms and an auditorium, with service areas above on the first. Above the access area, all the required labs are organized within the tower volume; only the largest lab is spread over two floors, with a connecting void and stairs in between. A technical floor separates the labs from the office floors, which are organized as mainly open floors around a central core. The dimensions of the floor plan are based on the requirement to house research groups of up to fifty people, mostly organized in open offices, but with the possibility to separate some individual offices. Voids between office floors, terraces and winter gardens provide informal meeting areas for the researchers. The executive department is situated on the uppermost floors. In order to ease the sliding of the curtain, the corners of the tower are rounded. The façade is built up from horizontal strips of grey concrete alternating with clear glass strips with hidden profiles. The window strips are flush with the concrete panes; in between them are sunken rails for stabilizing the curtain and fresh air intakes.

Location
Leuven
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2008
Size (m²)
13.000

Client
IMEC
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Christophe Antipas, Emilie Augeard, Tom Bonnevalle, Pieter Coelis, Lieven De Boeck, Ester Goris, Michel Sikorski
112

International Criminal Court

The Hague

Civic

Competition

Competition

2008

32.000

Situated near the coastline, at the edge of the dunes, the proposal conceives the ICC complex like a micro-city, composed of a collection of independent building volumes organised around a central square. The volumes are connected through a lower plinth that is embedded in the landscape. A long stretch of public space is cut into the landscape and the plinth. On the site, the former dune-scape is reinstated. The original topography is adapted in order to conceal the plinth and the underground parking garage.
A series of simple, vertical volumes of varying height are the elements of a composition with only one exception: the court volume. The horizontal, floating courtroom volume, supported in the middle by a lower building, recalls a balance, the emblem of justice. It functions as an income pavilion, with a vertical ‘salle des pas perdus’, the vibrant centre of the institute. Above the arrival square, the luminous ceiling of the floating volume is composed of a pattern of member state flag panels, alternating with white panels for states that are still to join.
The facades on the outer edge of the complex are defined by vertical concrete fins that act as a security device against blasts. They have transparent glass in between, while the inward looking facades are clad in mirroring glass, the court building is in translucent glazing with a transparent pattern cut out, and the wedge is in black limousine glass. allowing public visibility of the activities of the ICC.
All-over, this design is a balance in itself, dealing with opposed requirements such as radiating authority and expressing approachability, compactness and porosity towards nature, complex security and welcoming accessibility, and finally separation and proximity between the different parts of the program.

Location
The Hague
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2008
Size (m²)
32.000

Client
International Criminal Court
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Wesley Aelbrecht, Emilie Augeard, Christophe Antipas, Antoine Chaudemanche, Pieter Coelis, Lieven De Boeck, Laurent Liefooghe, Michel Sikorski, Michael Smith, Yuichiro Suzuki
Consultants
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
111

New Port House of Antwerp

Antwerp

Civic

Competition

Competition

2008

21.756

Another case where a proper reading of circumstances directly leads to a design concept. A former fire station built in 1922, in the form of a courtyard building, is now serving as the port authority’s workplace. It is situated at the end of a major dock, on the border between city and harbour. The area is rapidly transforming from a harbour area into a new part of the city. An imposing viaduct is planned at a distance of no more than 20 meters from the building, and at a height of 25 meters. The surface of the existing building needs to be doubled, while internal walking distances are already critical. The only way out of these constraints is to go up, not just on top but above the viaduct, in order to ensure free views towards the harbour. The existing volume is duplicated and mounted on a steel structure inside the courtyard. The in-between void allows to maintain the existing daylight quality in the courtyard. The composition of old and new makes an iconic ensemble, adapted to the scale of the new surroundings, and leaving the courtyard typology intact. In contrast with the vertical, rythmic and heavy tectonics of the old building, the new one is fully clad with horizontal and shiny aluminium louvres.

Location
Antwerp
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2008
Size (m²)
21.756

Client
Municipal Port Company of Antwerp
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Piet Crevits, Lieven De Boeck, Ester Goris, Laurent Liefooghe, Lim Geun Poong, Wouter van Daele, Martin van Schaik
Consultants
VK Engineering (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical)
Barbara van der Wee Architects (restoration)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
097

Police Station

Kortrijk

Civic

Competition, 1st Prize

Discontinued

2007–2013

23.000

The design of the new police headquarters in Kortrijk features a simple vertical composition of two triangular volumes with a large open space between them.
A gridded field of rectangular perforations are made in both upper and lower volumes allowing both daylight penetration and a subtle disruption of the large plan surfaces.
These perforations vary functionally as voids, exterior patios, atria and glass volumes. They impart a gentle specificity to the otherwise flexible and generic office floors and provide both physical and visual connectivity between all floors.

Location
Kortrijk
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Discontinued
Year
2007–2013
Size (m²)
23.000

Client
Stadtsontwikkelingsbedrijf Kotrijk
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele, with Christophe Antipas, Pieter Coelis, Jonathan Koellreuter, Yuichiro Suzuki
project: Xaveer De Geyter, Pieter Coelis, Wouter van Daele − Matthieu Hackenheimer, Federico Pedrini, Stéphanie Willocx
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanics)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
094

Bayonne Water Tower

Bayonne

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2007

2.000

The project is located only 1500m outside the heart of the old city center of Bayonne. Its highest point is situated 90M above the city center’s street level. As such, the water tower will be widely visible in its environment, from the historical center as well as from the shores of the Adour and Nive rivers and from national and international highways passing through the region. Therefore the architectural and sculptural quality of the tower is of major importance for the city of Bayonne and its environment. After a formal research, we kept two solutions.
Solution 1. A squared water tank, dimensions 27 m by 27 m and 7.5 m high, resting on 9 monumental columns, dimensions 4.5m by 4.5 m and 45 m high. By making the tank as big as possible in surface, its height is reduced to a minimum. This creates a similarity between the dimensions of the width of the columns and the height of the tank, making the whole appear as one unified object. The lightness of the pillars also opens a maximum of views and allows for a maximum of light.
Solution 2. Three inclined round tubes with different diameters are standing next to each other and are linked at the top by a walking bridge. The smallest tube contains the staircase and the hydraulic pipes for the two tanks, the two other pipes contain the two tanks. The separation of the program gives three slender objects instead of one big one. The inclination of the two smallest tubes which makes a dynamic effect makes the water tower looks different from every point of view.

Location
Bayonne
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2007
Size (m²)
2.000

Client
City of Bayonne
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Christophe Antipas, Yannis Igodt, Laurent Liefooghe, Cristian Panaité, David Schmitz, Wouter van Daele
Consultants
Setec TPI (structure, sustainabilty)
091

Aerospace Campus

Toulouse

Infrastructure

Competition

Competition

2007–2008

209.000

Our proposal for the Aerospace Campus on the Montaudran site, accompanied by the reinforcement of the existing landscape structures, aims at establishing an urban center with a strong identity at the entrance of Toulouse. It also aims at indulging in aeronautical and space activities, scattered over the territory of the Toulouse metropolis and the Aerospace Valley, a showcase, an emblematic place. Through its architectural expression, the Aérospace Campus affirms the position of Greater Toulouse as the European capital of the aeronautical and space industries.

Location
Toulouse
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2007–2008
Size (m²)
209.000

Client
Communauté Urbaine Grand Toulouse
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), OMA, Puig Pujol Architectures, Sutter Taillandier Architectes
for XDGA: Xaveer De Geyter, Emilie Augeard, Antoine Chaudemanche, Pieter Coelis, Ingrid Huyghe, Jarik Ouburg, Frédéric Rasier, David Schmitz, Wouter Van Daele, Martin van Schaik
Consultants
Sotec (structure)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
089

Bezalel Academy

Bezalel

Education

Competition

Competition

2007

30.000

Situated in a complex urban setting and dominated by the Holy Trinity Cathedral and a museum, the aim is to create a campus without borders towards the city. The design consists of two matching cubic volumes, one partially embedded in the steeply sloping terrain, the other lifted from it and resting on a series of upturned pyramidal supports. For the unbuilt this results in a square in front of the church, a shadowed space under the floating volume and a smooth link through a theatrical stair with the museum’s garden. A ziggurat-shaped courtyard is at the center of the embedded volume. It is a flexible studio-building with a continuously upward stepping floor. The whole is a Babelesque combination of gallery, circulation and workshop. The courtyard sits on top of an underground basketball glassbox, that in turn lights up the parking garage. The second volume contains all the classrooms and the administration offices. At its center, another glassbox functions as a double height exhibition space, lit from above through the building’s courtyard, and sunken into the lower building. Apart from being the main gallery space, the glass box is a visual and functional crossroads between public space, elevated building and basement programs. Below square level all the main collective functions, such as the library and the restaurant, are organised with a view onto the garden. They are accessed through an intermediate mezzanine level, which is the interior main artery between glass box and ziggurat.

Location
Bezalel
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2007
Size (m²)
30.000

Client
Bezalel Academy of Art and Architecture
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Wouter van Daele − Christophe Antipas, Raphaël Cornelis, Jonathan Koellreuter, David Schmitz, Yuichiro Suzuki, Lukasz Weclawski
Photos
Frans Parthesius
080

Square Rogier

Brussels

Infrastructure

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2006–2019

45.000

Similar to the Nørreport project and the Schuman Square, this project is about public transport in public space. Rogier Square used to be a square in front of the North railway station, until it was relocated further up north due to infrastructural reasons. The area nonetheless remained an important hub: a major subway station was built under the square, while above the ground it became an intersection for bus lines. This new condition characterized by vertical fluxes, however, failed to be translated into a qualitative space. Ultimately four major interventions were proposed.
A patio that is carved out of the subterranean infrastructure is the central element of the project. It brings daylight to the subway levels and to an underground event hall. It is nonetheless a connector as well. Access to the underground and to an existing parking garage is concentrated inside and around the patio. A 3d composition of stairs, escalators, elevators and a pedestrian bridge becomes the heart of the project.
The underground levels are reorganised. They are reoriented towards the patio, new shops are introduced and an underground link with a shopping mall on the other side of the street is redesigned.
A pedestrian strip is introduced along the north façade of the boulevard. The impact of cars is drastically reduced. Only taxis and buses are allowed on the square. While the square itself remains rather empty, the strip is accommodated with terraces, street furniture and small groups of trees. The strip is laid with white concrete panels incrusted with pebbles, the square with dark basalt stone.
In between the square and the boulevard a large circular canopy is installed that covers both the patio and the bus stop. It has a central pedestal that is used as a coffee shop. The canopy is a steel structure resting on 4 pre-existing columns that also support the underground trains. The pedestal, a volume with a rectangular ground plan based on the existing column grid, and a hexagonal ceiling integrated in the triangular structure of the roof, is shifted in plan in order to position the canopy at the centre of the square. The roof is covered with a single ETFE sheet, while the opaque triangles are made of a white PVC foil.

Location
Brussels
Type
Infrastructure
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2006–2019
Size (m²)
45.000

Client
Region of Brussels Capital
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Wesley Aelbrecht, Pieter Coelis, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Piet Crevits, Yannis Igodt, Laurent Liefooghe, Dagmar Pelger, Frédéric Rasier
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Tom Bonnevalle, Karel Bruyland, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Matthias Van Rossen, with Raphaël Cornelis, Ingrid Huyghe, Cristian Panaîté, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanics)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Tritel (mobility)
Photos
Francisco Guillan y Suarez, XDGA-Matthias Van Rossen
078

Plaine du Var

Nice

Urban

Study

Completed

2006–2007

>5.000.000

The development of the Plaine du Var tends to accelerate toward south, projects multiply and it becomes urgent to enroll in a comprehensive development plan. Further on north, the reduction of cultivated land attracts space-intensive activities (retail, industry, logistics) that deplete a rare land resource. The establishment of a strategic “guide” plan for the Plaine du Var appears as an emergency.
It is a vision of what may become a long-term Plaine du Var. Its purpose is threefold:
- Give an identity to the Plaine du Var.
- Meet the needs of development in the medium and long term Riviera city and Alpes Maritimes.
- Create a quality development which will facilitate and support a new economic dynamism.

Location
Nice
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2006–2007
Size (m²)
>5.000.000

Client
Communauté Nice Côte d’azur
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Ester Goris, Jarrik Ouburg, David Schmitz, Yuichiro Suzuki
Consultants
Landscape Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Icade Foncier Développement (development)
OMA / Floris Alkemade (urbanism)
Transversal (geopgraphy)
Yan Le Gal Consultants (HQE)
077

University Library Marne-la-Vallée

Marne-la-Vallée

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2006

12.000

The new library will become a place for research, group labour and a meeting place for students and researchers of the different departments of the University of Marne-la-Vallée.
Besides this role as an “intellectual knot” we also want to make it into the real social centre of the University situated right in the gravity point of the campus. We propose to re-use the typology of the existing farm instead of organizing the library in an non-efficient, unqualittaive way in the existing farm, as asked for in the competition brief.
A new building will be constructed in a u-shape around an interior courtyard. As such an enclosed exterior space is created and animated by the activities around it, in contrast with the rest of the campus composed by freestanding buildings in a free open space with no scale or clear borders. The courtyard has two accesses situated on the central axe going through the campus. This axe for pedestrians links the two existing levels of the campus by a new monumental stair, situated in the centre of the courtyard and extended in the interior of the library. This stair becomes the focal point of all the circulation; the entrance to the library, the auditorium, the vertical connections between the floors of the library and the public walking through the courtyard.
In the first phase, only three sides of the courtyard are built by a one level high building. In the second phase a level is added closing the courtyard on the upper level and covering the entrance of the courtyard.

Location
Marne-la-Vallée
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2006
Size (m²)
12.000

Client
University of Marne-la-Vallée
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical)
Photos
Frans Parthesius, XDGA
074

Vauban Housing

Bayonne

Residential

Commission

Built

2006–2009

17.694

The project we realised on this site is composed of different elements. The commercial ground floor is sitting on top of a parking level. The flats are organized in a way that maximises the amount of cross facing apartments. This is to first of all profit of the view of the surroundings from the apartments, to provide good natural light and to benefit of the quiet of the interior backyard.
To respond to the heterogeneous scales of the sourrounding constructions, the project is composed in a succession of layers that are overlapping and intersect alternatively. These layers recuperate and respond to the alignments of neighbouring buildings, thus allowing a natural integration in the close environment. While creating very thick facades, the project proposes a typological variation of galleries, loggias and exterior spaces in continuity with the interior spaces. With a depth of 2.8 meters, this balconies become the real inhabited spaces bringing an extra quality to the apartments.

Location
Bayonne
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2006–2009
Size (m²)
17.694

Client
Kaufman Broad / Malard
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Dan Budik, Antoine Chaudemanche, Pieter Coelis, Raphael Cornelis, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Tobias Labarque, Eric Lenaerts, Jarrik Ouburg, Wouter Van Daele
Consultants
BETEC (structure)
Norisko (control)
Photos
XDGA
070

Metropol Tower

Tirana

Commercial

Competition

Competition

2005

18.000

The Metropol tower is one of a line of towers proposed in the new city plan of Tirana to mark the new business center of the city. The plan describes that the shape of the towers should be sculptural and in “contrast with the smooth slopes of the surrounding mountains”.
This particular tower functions on top of that as the main landmark for anybody who enters the city from the south-east.
However, these unrestrained ambitions of the plan and the formal freedom it proposes are in sharp contrast with the strict building envelope as well as the demanding building economics and restrictions linked to the Albanian building industry.
These are the reasons why we decided to make a sculptural form that is captured inside a rigid concrete structural grid. The structural concrete grid is cast on site; the sculptural form is made by the glass facades titled in various directions behind the grid. The in between space between the façade and the concrete grid, provides some shade and can be used as terraces. Some of the receding surfaces are defined by pure functional reasons as for example garage entrance, or for terraces at the apartment levels, but also by irrational formal issues.
On the shopping levels, situated above and under the ground level, the central core of the tower is displaced towards the courtyard, this in order to obtain free surfaces with a maximum visibility. The shopping levels are connected through a void where the escalators between the different floors are situated. On the fourth level, a lobby organizes the transition between the two cores. From this lobby separate elevators go to the different programs in the upper levels; hotel, apartments and offices. The top floor contains the lobby of the hotel- situated under the helicopter deck- the restaurant and an open air swimming pool.

Location
Tirana
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2005
Size (m²)
18.000

Client
AL & GI
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Vincent Cellier, Antoine Chaudemanche, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Lieven De Boeck, Tobias Labarque, Frederic Rasier
Consultants
Ney & partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanics)
069

Baltic Pearl

Saint Petersburg

Urban

Competition

Competition

2005

1.345.000

Situated along the Bay of Finland, in between the historic city centre and the summer and winter palaces, the project consists of both an urban plan and a large scale landmark building, on demand of a big developper. Neither the urbanity of the historic city nor the one of the surrounding periphery is at the basis of what was researched here. A new urban form is found in the program itself and in the blatant way it is put together. The request is in fact exactly the one to form a new district out of an exorbitant amount of retail, indoor leisure and housing. These programs are confronted horizontally in the urban plan, and vertically in the tower.
The design of the highrise consists of a series of tower volumes of equal size, which are hoarded together in a specific configuration to form a complex. Where they come together, the opportunity of a vertical urbanity arises as different programs meet. That is where collective floors gathering the diverse users of the different programs are inserted. In addition to this, horizontal expansions of specific towers perforate other programs, such as the large waterscape of the long distance swimming pool belonging to the aquatic centre tower. Ultimately this vertical urbanity is created through the insertion of a 200meter high void inside the hotel tower that creates a physical link with the aquatic center, the retail tower and the casino. Simultaneously, where the towers are more independent, more autonomy is provided for other parts of the program, such as the casino and the housing tower. The vertical shifting of volumes creates a skyline on top as well as below the building, thus forming an underside void accentuating a historic axis on site. The components of the complex will light up at different moments of the day as the ultimate diverse program ensures a 24 hour activity in and around.

Location
Saint Petersburg
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2005
Size (m²)
1.345.000

Client
ZOA Baltic Pearl
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Michael Smith and Lieven De Boeck , with Dan Budik, Dagmar Pelger, Konstantin Cosmas, Florian Bäumler
Consultants
Made by Mistake (model)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
068

House in Hoeilaart

Hoeilaart

Residential

Commission

Built

2005–2010

320

The plan is based on an irregular grid of orthogonal lines, partially filled in with fixed walls for the private rooms, partially with sliding ones for the collective spaces. These walls, with their varying transparency, allow for the transformation, in no time, of a rigid plan into an open, fluid, labyrintic space. As long as they stay closed one can still recognize an entrance hall, a wintergarden, a workspace, a television room, a kitchen and a living room. By opening them rooms can be manipulated, extended or dissolved completely assuming and accumulating new roles, new objects and new conditions. Everything can then take place anywhere and an interior landscape develops in which daylight becomes the sculpting factor.
This form of temporary, light and improvised residing might very well be more adapted to family contemporary life, with its daily chaos, improvisation and agenda madness.
The appearance outside is perfectly stable. An incision in the plan provides with an access point to the centre of the house. A fully glazed façade provides contact with nature. The volume is fully clad in white roofing sheets, leaving the inhabitants with the choice to maintain a clean, virgin object, or to let it become green and blend in with the surrounding nature.

Location
Hoeilaart
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2005–2010
Size (m²)
320

Client
Private
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, David Schmitz, Yannis Igodt, Cristian Panaité
Consultants
Eddy Henskens (structure)
CAD&V (sustainability)
Thierry Raemdonck (big works)
Baeten-vanes bvba (joinery)
Artifo bvba (façade)
Eric Vanderlinden (sanitary)
Electric Island (electricity)
Guytal Robella bvba (heating)
Servidiam bvba (concrete floor)
Edec nv (polycarbonate walls)
Dael screen & digital printing (print polycarbonate)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
Awards
Belgian Prize for Architecture 2013: selection category ‘residential private’
065

Police and Justice Centre

Zürich

Civic

Competition

Competition

2005

112.060

How to implant a big and monotonous program like the Police-and Justice Centre into a super city block right in the center Zürich?
The starting point for our design was the acceptance of the monotony its program. We proposed a pattern of parallel stripes that is molded into a continuous volume. The stripes are bended according to the peculiar shape of the given site and obstacles that are around it. The building can be realized in three construction phases each with their own program. Between the stripes intriguing spaces are generated.
The building functions on two scales. The bended building strips and internal street like spaces relate to the scale of the surroundings and integrate the super-block into the direct context. Sometimes they open the volume to its surrounding sometimes they close it thus creating variable views into, through and out of the building.
The spaces in between the stripes serve as gardens, atriums or internal streets. The facades of the office parts are transparent; the prison part is closed by a stone facade with mirror glass windows giving light to the cells. Cross connecting bridges on all the levels provide a flexible organization of the program.
The ground floor stands in harsh contrast to the stripes of the upper floors. This level works on the scale of a super-city-block. As a one level extrusion of the site’s shape it is organized in several programmatic fields: commerce, museum, laboratories, IT centre, entrance hall, restaurant, auditorium, educational centre, etc. They formulate a visually open and large scale socle to mediate between the office and prison program on the upper levels and the logistical levels underground.
In the inflexion of the volume the main entrance is situated. It connects the preliminary square with the entrance hall of the Police and Justice Centre.

Location
Zürich
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2005
Size (m²)
112.060

Client
Baudirektion Kanton Zürich
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Competition Design: Xaveer De Geyter, Dan Budik with Dagmar Pelger, Michael Smith, Florian Bäumler, Yannis, Igodt, Yuichiro Suzuki, Pieter Coelis, Jarrik Ouburg
Consultants
Ney & Partners (Structure)
Ernst Basler + Partner AG (Mechanical)
Perolini Baumanagement AG (cost adviser)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
XDGA / Made by Mistake (model)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
063

Place Flagey

Brussels

Urban

Competition

Competition

2005

36.000

The Flagey square finds its identity in the way it defines a place, an ‘atmosphere’, rather than by circumscribing a clear space like a classical plaza does. The Flagey square flows over into adjacent smaller squares and thus literally penetrate the neighbourhood. Flagey is like a knot, a ‘hot spot’, where deferent worlds meet.
Our project proposes to use this specific characteristic by creating a new delimitation of the square that would fluently integrate the adjacent spaces with the main square and thus define the new square as a ‘platform’, what we called an ‘espace’ Flagey.
The Flagey Square is situated at the end of a green area that starts with the Forest of ‘Soignes’, continues into the woods of ‘La Cambre’ and then flows over into the ‘Ixelles’ ponds who are neighbouring the square. Consequently the south side of the square opens towards the greenery of the ponds whereas the other sides even when opening onto other squares are defined by build volumes. Those buildings seem to have a unity in the yellow brink used in their facades.
The first act in our project is to create a disk of yellow bricks which would comprise ‘place Flagey’ and al the adjacent spaces. Within this circle, streets, sidewalks, and even bus stops are realised in the same yellow bricks By doing this we soften the visual impact of the already deplaned infrastructure on the square like the bus stops and the main roads. The yellow bricks also induce a unity with the facades of the surrounding buildings. The second act was to define five specific arrears with an own programme. The idea is to concentrate the functions requested by the competition brief so that the rest of the square can be left free for whatever activity the neighbourhood can imagine or generate. We were thinking of for example of a market, a circus, a fair, but also the spontaneous games of children or simply banality of the daily passing by.
The defined areas are worked out in detail, three of them contain the stairs and elevators towards the underground parking. The first area is covering the roof of the over the bus and tram stops, this area can be used as a tribune for events on the square. The second area is a ceremonial place in black marble situated in front of the church. The third area is a aluminium square situated in the middle of one of the adjacent ponds. The fourth area is a garden with a patio that opens onto the underground parking. The fifth area is sunken sports field surrounded with stands.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2005
Size (m²)
36.000

Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Tobias Labarque, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Dagmar Pelger, Michael Smith, Yuichiro Suzuki
Consultants
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
060

Patio Houses

Venlo

Residential

Commission

Discontinued

2004–2005

3.025

A private park is to be transformed into a new dwelling area. Three different typologies are proposed by the urban planner : one slab with apartments, one cloud of freestanding houses and a cluster of patio houses. All of the unbuilt park area remains collective domain and a maximum of trees are kept.
Instead of a cluster that meanders in between the trees we propose a compact, one layer ring with an open space in the middle. The ring rests on the ground on one side, and as the site slopes down, it floats 3 meter above it on the other side. Thus the middle space remains connected to the outer park area. A circular ring road at the inner side of the ring follows the slope of the ground and situates itself partly inside the ring volume and partly under. Some houses have their entrance under the volume, others inside the volume.
The compactness of the volume and the minimal impact of the access road on the landscape gives maximum interaction between houses and nature. Existing trees are kept and integrated in the central garden and inside voids cut out in the ring volume. These voids determine the plans of the houses; some of them only provide light, others function as patios or as entrance spaces.
The parallel dividing walls between the houses stand on stilts and act as beams to support both the floor and roof slab. They divide the volume into strips of different width and shape. Some houses have a split level part, with rooms looking under the ring volume, others above.
A translucent and homogeneous façade makes one entity of the ring; parts of it can be opened to organize light intensity, privacy, views to the park. The identity of the different houses is expressed on the underside of the ring with different finishes.

Location
Venlo
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Discontinued
Year
2004–2005
Size (m²)
3.025

Client
private
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Jeroen Beerten, Yuichiro Suzuki
Consultants
Versnel & Partners (structure)
Bureau Lubbers (landscape)
Van Ginkel (tree advisor)
059

Learning Centre

Lausanne

Education

Competition

Competition

2004

35.000

In order to enrich and intensify the urban figure of the EPFL university campus as well as to install a visual relation with the splendid surroundings, the best location for the Learning Centre is at the very core of the existing campus; on the Esplanade and directly grafted on the main circulation axes at various levels of the existing campus buildings.
By doing so we can transform the original competition site (which we enlarge to its maximum size) into a continuous park, with a number of cutouts for parking, gardens and future building programs. In this sense it forms a counterpart to the existing campus in which the open space is limited to a series of leftover fragments between buildings.
At the center of the campus, the Allée de Savoye is reshaped into a big void; a green mall. At the south side the Allée dives under the Route du Lac to establish a link with the future student housing area. On the north side it leads to the Esplanade, with the new Learning Center on top. Underneath the reshaped Esplanade a new cafetaria, the student organization offices, a shop and a bicycle storage are housed with a view onto the Allée de Savoye. Furthermore it contains a parking garage, a loading bay and technical space. The vertical circulation is organized through a combination of a vertical shaft with elevators and double helix escape stairs, and an inclined void throughout the building with a cascade of stairs and escalators. This outside space can be covered by a glass roof in winter.

Location
Lausanne
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2004
Size (m²)
35.000

Client
Confédération Suisse represented by the Council of Polytechnic Schools, EPFL
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, El Hadi Jazairy, Tobias Labarque, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Frédéric Rasier, Yuichiro Suzuki, Jarrik Ouburg, Dan Budik
Consultants
Ove Arup & Partners (structure, mechanics)
Mikkel Kragh (façade)
Tony Lovell (security)
055

European Patent Office

The Hague

Civic

Competition, 1st Prize

Competition

2004–2005

71.000

XDGA’s proposal for the new headquarters building of the European Patent Office (EPO) seeks to radically reinterpret both the internal dynamics of the institution’s existing collection of facilities and its relationship with the surroundings. The resulting form is a hybrid series of seemingly individual towers united along one edge by an elementary spine of offices. Between the towers, deep cuts are made into the spine, producing monumental gateways that frame views and give access to a new distribution plaza for the facility. The result offers strikingly contrasting images of the building from its two primary sides. Towards the plaza, a single huge surface with large gates of varying heights, and on the street side a more playful composition of towers with unique facades.

Location
The Hague
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Competition
Year
2004–2005
Size (m²)
71.000

Client
European Patent Office (EPO)
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), One Architecture
Xaveer de Geyter, Dan Budik, with Antoine Chaudemanche, Fuminori Hoshino, Anouk Kuitenbrower, Jarrik Ouburg, Dagmar Pelger, David Schmitz, Yuichiro Suzuki
Consultants
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
Ove Arup & Partners (structure)
Ove Arup & Partners (mechanical)
XDGA, Made by Mistake (model)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
052

Tolbiac - Chevaleret

Paris

Residential

Competition

Competition

2004

200.000

If the main goal is to restore the connection between the city and the river Seine, or between the XIII district with the area of the “très Grande Bibliothèque”, the principal obstruction is the excavation of the railway site and the Hall Sernam. The solution exists in the redefinition of the excavation and the hall; we propose to transform them towards a new center for the area. The entity of the excavation with the entire hall included is transformed into one big public park with the character of a cultivated garden. By this the obstruction is transformed into an attraction. This park of 4.15 ha is much bigger than the 1.5 ha asked in the program. The garden is made accessible from the four sides and a number of cultural, commercial and sport programs are added around and inside the hall. The total program of housing accommodation, commercial activities and offices is organized in a very dense way on the cover above the railway tracks. Here the conception of “street” and “square” is erased and replaced by a whole of public spaces defined by a conglomerate of isolated buildings that in there total appearance form a counterweight to the urban void around the “très Grande Bibliothèque”. On one hand all the new buildings have the same height and together they define a strong urban entity, but on the other hand the openness in between the buildings allows a maximum insertion in the different contexts of the environment around them. The ground floors of the buildings are completely occupied by commercial activities, entrance- lobby’s and garage entrances. The garages are organized in the construction height of the cover above the tracks. The public space in between the building is mainly pedestrian; the use of the car is strictly limited to certain areas. The result of this urban plan is the juxtaposition of two big urban entities, a void in which the park is situated and a fullness where the entire program is concentrated. These two adjoining spaces that are opposite in nature as a Janis face, organize in a very strong way the transition in between the area’s of the district Tolbiac-Chevaleret.

Location
Paris
Type
Residential
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2004
Size (m²)
200.000

Client
SEMAPA
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer de Geyter, Jeroen Beerten, Henrik Boes-Brolling, Dan Budik, Antoine Chaudemanche, Lieven De Boeck, Hadi El Jazairy, Tobias Labarque, Yuichiro Suzuki, David Van Severen
Consultants
Ove Arup & Partners (structure, mechanical)
Michel Desvigne Paysagiste (landscape)
050

Oxymétal

Bordeaux

Residential

Commission

Built

2003–2009

53.285

A high density housing program, providing 410 apartments, some local commercial activities and a vast parking facility is to be installed in a low density part of the city.
The site is located on the dividing line between the homogeneous urban fabric of the inner city and the loose conurbation of the periphery. Today the railway tracks cut the area from the centre, but in a nearby future part of them will be transformed into a new part of the city.
The immediate surroundings are a compilation of workshops, individual housing, and collective housing buildings standing loose from the street. A series of repetitive semi-public gardens make the only coherence.
Through its layout the project establishes new physical and visual continuities with the existing open space and with the new developments on the railway area. The new buildings are positioned along two adjacent streets, standing on a half sunken parking garage and leaving a maximum size garden at the center of the parcel. One long block is placed along Jouhaux Street. Six gates give access to the different entrance halls. The central opening is high and monumental, creating a passage from the street where a new tram stop will be installed, towards the new garden. The smaller blocks are placed on pilotis and parallel to the main block along Vernet Street, allowing large views, and creating links towards the future developments of the station environment. One more irregular volume is at the other side of the garden. The parking facilities are located in a half sunken parking garage that connects the different buildings, and partly in open air at the border of the garden.
The volumes are a composition of tree superposed elements: a pedestal volume of two layers cut up by the gates, a main volume of six layers and roof pavilions of one layer. The lower volumes have glass brick balconies. The main volume has a large scale aluminum louver system with an alternating pattern on the street side and a continuous horizontal pattern on the garden side. The roof pavilions are clad in glass mosaic tiles. Mirroring stainless steel cladding for the columns, colorless glass mosaic for the walls and translucent polycarbonate as a ceiling frame the views on entrance level.

Location
Bordeaux
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2003–2009
Size (m²)
53.285

Client
Kaufman & Broad, SCI Richelieu
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Dagmar Pelger with Tobias Labarque, Sara Noel Costa De Araujo, Frédéric Rasier, Fuminori Hoshino, Piet Crevits, Yuichiro Suzuki, Lukasz Weclawski
Consultants
BETEC (structure)
Holisud (mechanical)
IFECC (construction management)
Dominique Boudet (consultant)
Norisko (monitoring)
Photos
XDGA
048

Les Halles

Paris

Urban

Competition

Competition

2002–2003

335.000

The current configuration of Les Halles in Paris suffers from the lack of interaction between the ground level park and the gargantuan basement on which is almost inadvertently stands.
The vast underground contains not only huge surfaces of program, but also two transport stations. Together these stations form one of the most intensely used and important hubs of the entire city. The proposal of OMA/XDGA/ONE seeks to establish a more direct relationship between the two existing worlds and amplify the richness and intensity of both though interaction. The main gesture is the excavation of a single valley, which with almost surgical precision exposes the most varied moment in the underground; a slice of programmatic accessibility which unites the city with shopping, cinema complex, cultural programs and both metro and RER stations. In a dialogue between ground floor and basement, further locations have been identified with the complex existing structure where excavation or extrusion can further enrich and diversify the new urban experience.

Location
Paris
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2002–2003
Size (m²)
335.000

Client
SEM Paris
Architect
OMA (mandatory), XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), One Architecture
Design: Rem Koolhaas, Floris Alkemade, Xaveer de Geyter, Dan Budik, Mathijs Bouw, Donald van Dansik, Antoine Chaudemanche with Andre Bldisiute, Benjamin Clarens, Lieven De Boeck, Johan De Wachter, Nicolas Firket, Natacha Fricaut, Mee Michelle Liu, Gael Le Novene, Katharina Haag, Michael Smith, Camia Young
Consultants
Ove Arup & Partners (structure)
Agence Ter (landscape)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
046

National Archives

Esch-Belval

Civic

Competition

Competition

2003

37.600

A new ‘City of science, research and innovation’, installed on a former steel industry site, has an old blast furnace as its central icon. The new archive building is to be located on the edge of it, and in the urban plan it forms a low and long acoustic screen against nearby remaining industrial activity. Although the furnace is of an impressive monumentality, we consider it poor in terms of representation of the innovative. We propose to enrich the skyline of the science city and the archive to become one element in it.
The proposal is a sculptural form generated by a tension between the heavy and the capricious. A solid mass of archive rooms is opposed to light and floating volumes with additional programs. The main volume consists of two rows of four archive spaces each, along a central corridor.
Through shifting the two rows with one module, two cavities are created on opposite corners. The other volumes are installed inside these cavities: the corner towards a central square houses public functions floating above the entrance and a cafeteria, the opposite one administration.
The archive volume, with logistics and workshops on the lower floors, and a library on the top floor, is organized in a rational, compact and economic way; the additional volumes are spectacular and extravagant. The entire building is cladded in glass.
The archive volume has inclined panels of opaque limousine glass which reflect the surroundings in a mosaic pattern; the cavity on the public side is transparent, the other one in vivid orange glass.
The cantilevered volumes have both transparent parts and reflective surfaces: seen from a nearby highway, the entrance to the building is reflected in the inclined ceiling of the auditorium.

Location
Esch-Belval
Type
Civic
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2003
Size (m²)
37.600

Client
SEM Paris
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer de Geyter, Dan Budik, Fuminori Hoshino, Tobias Labarque, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, Dagmar Pelger
Consultants
Ove Arup & Partners (structure)
Ove Arup & Partners (mechanics)
Ove Arup & Partners (installations & security)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
044

Heerlen

Heerlen

Commercial

Competition

Competition

2003

27.540

Nowadays, the skyline of Heerlen is made out of towers with an average height of 60m; this is half of the height of the new tower. Our proposition takes this local condition into account. On the side of the highway, two towers of 60m are put on top of each other. On the city side the two towers are backed up with one full height tower of 120m. The three volumes together enclose a monumental void that offers the building two front sides. The entrance lobby of the building is situated into the void.
On the ground floor the tower is embedded by different elements; at the side of the square the entrance is accentuated and protected against wind by one level of the tower sticking out and like this functioning as an awning. At the north side a horizontal glass awning creates the same condition. At the West side, a sloping void is created that gives access towards the underground parking level.
The vertical circulation in the tower happens by three panoramic elevators that move along the facades in the void. One serves the restaurant situated halfway the tower. On top of the tower a collective fitness facility is situated, the commercial program is situated on the levels -1/0/1.
The facades of the tower are made out of different kind of glass with different gradients of transparency, color and scales. The glass is also covering the closed facades something transparent, sometimes mirroring the environment. Some facades are covered with vertical glass fins to give the big volume more fragility, lightness and refinement.
Seen from the highway, the tower is perceived as a stapling of already exiting volumes out of the environment, seen from the city center the tower is seen as a sculpture that is constantly changing in looks, color and light intensity.

Location
Heerlen
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2003
Size (m²)
27.540

Client
3W Vastgoed, Vesteda Project, Gemeente Heerlen
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Dan Budik, Antoine Chaudemanche, Anouk Kuitenbrower, Freek Persyn, David Van Severen
042

Kitchen Tower

Brussels

Education

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2003–2009

3.293

The project is part of an extension/reorganisation process for a hotel school campus from the fifties. Its main role in the plan is to manifest the school towards the recently built ring road and to internally strengthen the spatial structure of the campus, as it stands at one end of a central axis marked on the other end by a water tower. For that reason, and in order to preserve ground for further extensions, the program is stacked to form a tower. It contains a series of kitchen classrooms, completed by an entrance lobby, a storage space and a locker space on the lower part, a public restaurant and bar at the top. The restaurant is specifically organised around a central patio. As the relation between usable surface and vertical logistics is disproportioned, an inversion of the traditional tower typology with a central core is developped. Here, a glass volume with only one room per floor and free of structural elements, is suspended in between a series of concrete shafts. Two escape stairs, ductwork for the ventilation of the kitchens, one freight elevator and two outside elevators are organised inside and in between them. The shafts are made of black, grey and white concrete. The central volume is fully glazed, and for hygienic purpouses in the kitchens, the glass façade is flush on the inside, while the aluminium mullions are placed on the outside.

Location
Brussels
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2003–2009
Size (m²)
3.293

Client
Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, Henrik Boes Brolling, Lieven De Boeck, Ester Goris, El Hadi Jazairy, David Schmitz
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Anouk Kuitenbrouwer, Piet Crevits, with Wesley Aelbrecht, Raphaël Cornelis, Fuminori Hoshino, Ingrid Huyghe, Jarrik Ouburg, Olivier Renard, Marie-Pierre Vandeputte, David Van Severen
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Raphaël Cornelis, Ingrid Huyghe, with Piet Crevits
Consultants
Barbara Van Der Wee (restoration)
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanical)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
Awards
Bigmat Award 2013, International Architecture Award, Grand Prize
Belgian Prize for Architecture 2013, nomination, category 'not-residential public'
041

Sint-Lucas

Ghent

Education

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2002–2013

7.000

How to pile up art studios that need both zenithal light and opaque walls to work on? And what if a workshop for glass art even needs an outward inclined glass wall to work on directly? The trapezoid building site, the stringent urban rules and a nearby neo-gothic pavilion on pilotis together form a true straitjacket for the building envelope.
Three rectangular and opaque concrete volumes are stacked on top of each other in a seemingly loose manner, yet in doing so, they deal with the irregularity of the site and with the imposed setback at the top, they avoid a clash with the pavilion and they allow for zenithal light to enter. The space in between them is filled with translucent or transparent layers. Two of the workshops have double height with mezzanine floors inside, while the top layer is single height. Each workshop presents closed walls on its lower level that constitute a working surface and, at the same time, act as beams spanning from one core to the other in order to maximise workspace without internal structural elements. Concrete, polycarbonate and glass-bricks are the foreseen materials for the spartan studios. A few irregular, transparent resin blocks are cast in the concrete of the street facade in order to offer a glimpse of the activity inside.

Location
Ghent
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2002–2013
Size (m²)
7.000

Client
Sint-Lucas Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)-
competition: Xaveer De Geyter, David Schmitz,with Henrik Boes Brolling
definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, David Schmitz, Piet Crevits, El Hadi Jazairy, with Henrik Boes Brolling, Tom Bonnevalle, Frédéric Rasier, Yuichiro Suzuki
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Tom Bonnevalle, Piet Crevits, David Schmitz with Ingrid Huyghe, Frédéric Rasier
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Studiebureau Boydens (mechanics)
Photos
Frans Parthesius
040

Villeneuve d'Ascq Museum

Villeneuve d'Ascq

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2002

15.800

In our proposal for the new housing of the “art brute” collection of the museum, we want to give an equal importance to the conservation, research and exposition activities of the museum. We juxtapose them in the building in such a way that a multitude of relations between the different components is created. Not only the works of art are exhibited, but also the conservation and study surrounding them. Even if the storage space is not accessible to the public, its richness, activities, vulnerability can be made visible. The storage space can interact with the objects on show and become reference, background
… In this way the museum is equally foyer, workshop, laboratory, factory, and depot. The building is organized on one level in a non-hierarchical way. It is a continuous field, partially interrupted by screens. In one direction by structural concrete slabs, in all directions by different kinds of glass screens: transparent, translucent, limousine-glass and white opaque. These materials are continued on the facades. The physical boundary between storage, exposition and working space exists, but disappears in the whole. Visual relations are sometimes direct, at other times interrupted or suggested. The total is covered by a roof that allows for a wide variety of light qualities: a continuous grid of supporting beams is covered by a second, exterior grid of beams which acts as a sunscreen.
The inclination of the beams is adjusted in function of the light quality needed in the space below. Some spaces, in which daylight is undesirable, simply have an opaque slab on top of the first beam grid.

Location
Villeneuve d'Ascq
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2002
Size (m²)
15.800

Client
Communauté Urbaine de Lille
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Lieven De Boeck, Tobias Labarque, Sara Noel Costa de Araujo, David Van Severen
Consultants
Ney & Partners (structure)
Ghesquière-Dierrickx (economics)
Photos
XDGA
038

Extension of Monaco

Monaco

Urban

Study

Completed

2002–2006

3.850.000

In 2002 XDGA were requested by the Monarchy of Monaco to speculate on how the principality’s territorial waters could be exploited to offer expansion space for the increasingly congested city.
XDGA produced four separate development scenarios each borne from individual and highly specific aims and objectives. All four are however united by conceptual preoccupations and historical features such as the casino and the royal palace.

Location
Monaco
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2002–2006
Size (m²)
3.850.000

Client
Direction de la Prospective et des études d’urbanisme de Monaco
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Dan Budik, Lieven De Boeck, El Hadi Jazairy, Anouk Kuitenbrouwer, Freek Persyn, David Van Severen
Consultants
Ilex Paysage (landscape)
037

Hyper Catalunya

Catalonia

Urban

Competition

Competition

2002

>5.000.000

The urban and the rural in Catalonia today are still clearly distinct elements: the Region consists, in fact, of the juxtaposition of a large and uncontaminated countryside, powerful metropolitan centres, a series of smaller towns and an intense coastal development.
The research project aims at tackling all of these different types of territories (mountains, river planes, valleys, seaside and periphery), by proposing spatial strategies that look directly at the undeveloped space.
The core focus, is ultimately represented by the open space – the negative space described in ‘Aftersprawl’, 2002 - as a structuring element for new modes of urbanisation.

Location
Catalonia
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2002
Size (m²)
>5.000.000

Client
Autonomous Region of Catalonia
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Henrik Boes Broiling, Sara Noel Costa De Araujo, Lieven De Boeck, David Schmitz
035

Europa College

Bruges

Education

Commission

Built

2001–2008

11.700

The key issue here is how to insert new architecture in a historically loaded surrounding. Bruges is one of those cities that try to keep its centre intact, with the risk of banning a consistent part of today’s city life by maintaining a strict set of rules concerning scale, materials, roof inclinations -just to name a few- that are supposed to safeguard existing urban qualities. Amongst others, concrete façades and big glass surfaces are forbidden.
Two buildings are to be added to an old school campus, which will house a postgraduate law and economics school. The campus, accessible from three different streets, consists of a conglomerate of historical buildings organized around a sequence of enclosed courts.
The two new volumes, though being set freestanding from the old buildings, help to redefine the courts and grant continuity through their partially open ground floor.
N1 consists of classrooms and a central reception desk, N2 accommodates two lecture rooms, offices and a foyer on the ground floor. One side of the building covers an outside entrance space to the campus accessible from an existing gate on the main street.
A regular grid of prefabricated concrete elements forms both the supporting structure and a filter for light. The whitish, concrete outer surface is polished, which makes the material more ‘noble’ and acceptable for the city; inclined surfaces reflect the sunlight indirectly into the rooms. Behind the concrete structure is a full glass façade composed out of translucent elements and transparent windows. The qualities of the inner city are addressed through scale, depth and texture of the proposed façade.

Location
Bruges
Type
Education
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2001–2008
Size (m²)
11.700

^Client
College of Europe
^Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
design: Xaveer De Geyter, Ester Goris, Piet Crevits, Yuichiro Suzuki – Raphaël Cornelis, Lieven De Boeck, Yannis Igodt, Tobias Labarque, Lieve Van De Ginste
implementation: Xaveer De Geyter, Ester Goris, Piet Crevits, Raphaël Cornelis – Yuichiro Suzuki
^Consultants
VK Engineering (structure), Ingenium (mechanical), Architectenbureau Vanassche - Van Langenhove (sustainability)
^Photos
Jan Kempenaers, André Nullens, XDGA
028

Schaerbeek Formation

Brussels

Urban

Study

Completed

2001–2002

1.000.000

The Belgian Railway company has put forward the idea to construct a second High Speed Train terminal at the North side of Brussels. The site they propose is at the cross point of three existing railway lines crossing Brussels in the North-South direction. In our proposal we broaden the site of reflection to a much bigger area. The focal point stays the local station of Schaarbeek, but at the north side of this station there is a huge zone of railway infrastructure that part by part is going to disappear in the future. This area becomes part of the proposal we make, as well as the whole transition zone going from the city center towards the city borders, including the unfinished and mono-functional North quarter. This area seems for a big part vacant, railway tracks, roads, warehouses, green areas in between buildings, and fragments of nature form together an optional void that could structure the whole north side of Brussels. Our proposal wants to explore this possibility; the vacant plots are little by little collected in one continuous space with an ecological nature, aligned with a series of very dense built quarters that link up with their surrounding quarters. The new area thus created has influence on the scale of the whole city and can become an attractive zone for new developments in Brussels.
The green void has a transition of wild nature close to the city centre towards a much designed green garden at the outskirts. In general, the highly polluted underground of the site gets purified by special vegetation. This green carpet enclose all road infrastructure as well as big infrastructural elements as the bridge Van Praet, the new HST terminal, the railway tracks, and a new Olympic stadium. In time, other existing green spaces are connected, as for example the Botanical garden in the centre of Brussels or the Three Fountains Park in Vilvoorde. The influence of the total plan will be comparable with the nowadays already existing quality of the Bois de la Cambre at the south side of Brussels.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
2001–2002
Size (m²)
1.000.000

Client
Euro Immostar NV
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Jeroen Beerten, El Hadi Jazairy
Photos
XDGA
024

Paju Book City

Seoul

Cultural

Commission

Discontinued

2001–2005

2.000

An impressive number of Korean editors choose to install theme selves on a new allotment north of Seoul, along Han-Gang River. Except for a free view on the north towards a hilly landscape, there is an absolute absence of context. To ensure activity in the allotment after regular working hours, most of the buildings host more than just office program. In our case an exhibition gallery, a photo studio and an apartment are added to the offices, but flexibility in program is the most decisive design issue.
Free floor surface is provided by putting stairs, elevators and toilets outside a compact volume. From the inside the different floors are defined by a light well altering from an outside terrace into a patio and into an interior void, and finally into the entrance pavilion on ground floor. A structural steel mesh composed from 120x120mm L-profiles on the outside of the building makes an earthquake-proof and column free building. It screens an open ground floor and it goes down on one side along an underground patio. It allows for interchangeable façade elements in glass, mostly transparent, partly opaque. The volumes attached to the main building are made in concrete, the triangular cantilevered volume in translucent polycarbonate.

Location
Seoul
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Commission
Status
Discontinued
Year
2001–2005
Size (m²)
2.000

Client
Cheong Moon Gak - Han Seung
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Freek Persyn, David Schmitz with Lieve Van de Ginste, Henrik Boes Brolling, Antoine Chaudemanche
Consultants
KYWC Architects (architects)
Ney & Partners (structure)
Photos
Hisao Suzuki (El Croquis)
022

Aftersprawl

Brussels

Publication

Commission

Published

2001–2002

–

With the publication of ‘God’s own junkyard’, the planned deterioration of America’s landscape by Peter Blake in 1964, ‘sprawl, or the occupation of the landscape, the empty space, became a topic in urban planning. Prior to this, sprawl was nothing more than a latent phenomenon that remained locked in the subconscious of the discipline.
However, sprawl is still talked about in extremely general terms, and usually form a negative, global and generalized point of view; From that perspective sprawl stands for chaos, a lack of structure or demonstrable catalysts. But chaos can also be understood as nothing more than a complex form of order, subject to processes and laws that are still unfamiliar. The research projects After-Sprawl, research on the contemporary city, consists out of an atlas part and a project part.
In the atlas part, sprawl is mapped in different areas in Europe. Corine landcover maps for the different sprawl regions in Europe are dissected in different layers: built, infrastructure and unbuilt; Out of this mapping, the concept of negative space is developed.
The idea is to develop spatial strategies for the unbuilt space instead of the built and infrastructure. The unbuilt space, this is nature, left-overs, agriculture etc. is used to create spatial conditions that introduce new uses, development strategies as well as strong images for certain sprawl areas.
In the project part, possible strategies illustrate how this negative space can become a useful instrument in introducing spatial qualities in the sprawl condition.

Location
Brussels
Type
Publication
Procedure
Commission
Status
Published
Year
2001–2002
Size (m²)
–

Client
deSingel Internationale Kunstcampus
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Pier Vittorio Aureli, Lieven De Boeck, Maarten Gheysen, Yuichiro Suzuki
Publisher
NAi Uitgevers Rotterdam
020

Lot C

Lille

Commercial

Commission

Built

2000–2002

9.261

The “lot C” office building is one of the buildings situated in the urban plan “Ilot St. Maurice” designed by our office. The urban plan imposed two conditions on the architectural design of the building. On one hand, the public space around the building had to be maintained as being part of the continuous network of outdoor spaces of different sizes, materials and qualities of the urban plan. On the other hand, as being part of the series of building along the street in front of the TGV terminal Lille-Europe, it has to subscribe itself into a common identity created together with the other buildings in that street front.
The building is conceived as a glass façade building. Each façade is reacting on its surroundings in scale, transparency and composition and defines the character of the public space it is facing to. The facades facing the courtyards emphasize the scale of the building. The south-west façade towards the TGV terminal is rather monumental. The only façade that is not designed as a glass façade is the in-between façade of the two volumes of the building. It is a concrete wall with window openings and covered with basalt stone slabs. The basalt continues inside the building creating continuity between the exterior public space and the entrance hall. This continuity is also expressed in the use of the material covering the square in front of the building and the floor of the entrance hall, both are made in travertine.

Location
Lille
Type
Commercial
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2000–2002
Size (m²)
9.261

Client
Bouygues Immobilier Nord
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Ester Goris, Anouk Kuitenbrouwer, Tobias Labarque, Lieve Van De Ginste
Consultants
Projetud (structure)
AR & C (façade)
Photos
XDGA
019

Bluemoon

Groningen

Residential

Commission

Built

2000–2002

3.100

Blue Moon is a concept by Toyo Ito for a project in Groningen, in which a link is sought between the city centre and a planned district on the outskirts, designed by Wiel Arets. The purpose of the project is to place the site – a former power station – on the mental map of Groningen. The approach was based on Ito’s notion of ‘blurring architecture’, whereby the city no longer displays a clear centre or boundaries but becomes an accumulation of nodes in a network. In planning terms, zoning is replaced with layering. The notion of the ‘house’ is also blurred, ceasing to be an absolute space for the family. The functions of the house merge with the urban space, and ‘life’ boils down to ‘networking’ of all the fragments.
Five architects were asked to develop the concept. Each designed a city centre house in which private and public functions are combined, and each also made an intervention – temporary or permanent – on the site outside the city. The two were to be linked. Our part of the site will be used as an exercise ground during the event there were no traces of prior use. The football stadium that will be constructed there in the future takes the form of a void hollowed out from a huge conglomeration of varied programmes – offices, shops, homes and a car park. It will function as a catalyst/condenser for the surrounding programme. Our project comprises the excavations required for the planned construction. The car park will be excavated and filled with water, with the football pitch functioning like an island in the middle. The excavated soil will be formed into a cone, 25 metres high, positioned in such a way as to provide access to the football pitch. The earthwork provides an impression of the future stadium, it can be used to hold all manner of sporting activities, it offers an overview of the entire event and it also provides a temporary vantage point from which to view the city centre.
In a parallel approach, the house in the city centre was based on a core that influences the surrounding programme – the various floor plans of a five storey building with a roof garden are determined by a staircase spiraling around a lift shaft. The walls around the core are alternately transparent, translucent or opaque. The two membranes fix the relationship between public and private, between what can take place inside and how it relates to the city outside.

Location
Groningen
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
2000–2002
Size (m²)
3.100

Client
City of Groningen
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Antoine Chaudemanche, Lieven De Boeck, Tanja Lie, Freek Persyn, Lieve Van De Ginste
Collaborators
Artès Architecten (local architect)
Toyo Ito (general concept)
Photos
XDGA
018

Faculty of Economics

Ghent

Education

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2001–2006

7.241

For this inner city campus on a slope towards the Scheldt River, a masterplan was established in order to allow for new open spaces and new built infills. The main topic of the plan is a pedestrian path that is meant to link all the different parts, inside and outside. The project happens to be grafted onto this passage and is actually perforated by it. The tiny scale and the diversity of the programme in addition to the already dazzling topography finally result in a building that is in no way regular. A totally hybrid structure, including a flared column grid, outer structural fins and large steel Vierendeel beams, is needed in order to stack the different functions and allow for a smooth circulation of groups. All vertical circulation shafts are organised on one side of the path, while on the other side a double height foyer can be accessed. It heads downwards to form an underground passage below the path leading to an older Faculty building. The auditorium is situated on top of the lobby. It is accessed through a main stair and a wide corridor that curls around it. Behind is a large meeting room of the Faculty. The top level hosts a library organised around a patio, and combined with offices. The front and back facade are ultimately fully glazed and cantilever outwards, while the two lateral ones are in concrete, one opaque, the other one made out of 20m high concrete fins.

Location
Ghent
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2001–2006
Size (m²)
7.241

Client
Ghent University
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), SBA (Stéphane Beel Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Stéphane Beel, Isabelle Blancke, Inge Buyse, Jo Taillieu, with Dan Budik, Piet Crevits, Tobias Labarque, Michael Smith, Lieve Van De Ginste, David Van Severen
Consultants
SWK Arcadis (structure)
Ingenium (mechanics)
Daidalos-Peutz (acoustics)
Cenergie (sustainability)
Photos
Hans Werlemann
018

University Forum - UFO

Ghent

Education

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

2000–2009

13.430

This building is the main gathering area and the new representative building of the University of Ghent. It houses administrative office space, laboratories, a 1000 seats auditorium dividable into two, a large scale foyer with info stand, some congress facilities, a ‘telecentre’, and a car park.
Vertically the building consists of three parts: a semi-sunken volume, a transparent foyer level and a top volume which is again divided in three programmatic parts: auditorium, offices and laboratories. A large stair leads to a lower garden behind the building: it allows for a view towards the river from the main street and across the foyer. The rather static composition features a 70 m long media panel on the street level and a vertically moving dividing wall for the auditoria appearing on top of the building.

Location
Ghent
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
2000–2009
Size (m²)
13.430

Client
Ghent University
Architects
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects) – SBA (Stéphane Beel Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Isabelle Blancke, Inge Buyse, David Dhooge, Frederik Dutry, Joris Van Huychem, Bram Seghers, Michael Smith, Jo Taillieu, Lieve Van De Ginste, David Van Severen
Consultants
SWK Arcadis (structure)
Ingenium (mechanical)
Daidalos-Peutz (acoustics)
Cenergie (sustainability)
Photos
Hans Werlemann
Frederick Vercruysse
017

MAS

Antwerp

Cultural

Competition

Competition

2000

16.000

The project for the Museum of maritime history (MAS) in Antwerp aims at uniting a series of strongly contrasting collections.
The variety of artefacts to be displayed, and the resultant diversity in terms of visitors are hence made to be structural components of the proposal.
The museum, in fact, opposes the traditionally didactic, synthetic and historically linear narrative, by encouraging personal readings of the content exhibited through paths that blur the lines between public and non-public programmes, between exhibition and research.
At street level, the museum comprises of a field of alternating strips of storage and exhibition space that take up the maximum footprint allowed.
Generally speaking, the exhibition strips are light and empty, while the archive spaces are closed and dark. A series of architectural elements – walls, panels, display cases, sliding doors, grids and curtains – is used to generate the interaction between the two, varying from isolation to fusion.
The overall ensemble of exhibition strips, rooms and walk-through archives creates a complex exhibition network in which other parts of the programme – restoration workshop, rest area, documentation centre, educational area, administrative zones and the loading and unloading bay – are incorporated.
All the facilities that are not directly related to the repository function, on the other hand, are placed beneath the field – entrance, lobby, conference area, temporary exhibitions and service spaces.
The public exterior space, consisting of quays, is ultimately organised peripherally around the museum, while on the rooftop a series of volumes excavate the building mass.

Location
Antwerp
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
2000
Size (m²)
16.000

Client
City of Antwerp
Architect
XDGA – Xaveer De Geyter Architects
Xaveer de Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, Freek Persyn, Tobias Labarque, Tanja Lie, Anouk Kuitenbrouwer, Ester Goris
Consultants
Ove Arup & Partners, Athenco (structure)
Ove Arup & Partners, Athenco (mechanics)
Hans Lust (calculations)
Robert-Jan Van Santen (facade)
Maarten Van Severen Design (interior)
Model
Vincent De Rijck
Photos
Frans Parthesius
016

Science Park

Leuven

Urban

Competition

Competition

1999

104.000

As elsewhere in Flanders, Leuven (Louvain) is surrounded by a proliferating haze of construction with no clear structure. This chaotic landscape is the result of a complex interplay of often contradictory forces, such as ribbon development, subdivision and fragmentation, infrastructural incisions, centrifugal forces and repolarization.
Within this amalgam, it is remarkable how straightforward topographical features like the Arenberg estate manage to create a certain order and coherence. A green valley – the confluence of the Dijle and Voer rivers – with a sequence of woods and open fields and a network of paths are all it takes to link a variety of university facilities and to turn them into a striking unity within the overall sprawl.
Our proposal uses these ‘bare’ ingredients to fix the essence of the science park – an elongated strip of open field, used as biotech test plots, is kept free of buildings, wooded ‘fronts’ are extended here and there, a few smaller walled gardens are laid out and paths are continued. Parking is a crucial feature of the programme. Its mass character – the area given over to parking accounts for about 40% of the total site – has the capacity seriously to disrupt the balance between the constructed elements and the estate. To keep all the cars in a multi-storey car park would increase the constructed volume by 50%, while ground-level parking would leave little room for the estate. We addressed this problem by laying parking slopes across the buildings. This maximizes the green areas, while minimizing the construction volume. The gently rising and falling roads (5%) determine the overall skyline and hence the collective identity, below which individual architectural freedom can flourish once again.
Three building complexes – S, M and L – are folded along and between the open spaces, confronting the existing topography with a new, artificial landscape. The interplay between estate, buildings, enclosed gardens and infrastructure also forms the defining image of the science park as viewed from Boudewijnlaan. The three buildings can be commenced separately or at once. They form a sequence of smaller constructions of constantly varying height and width, which can be built individually or linked together. Larger customized buildings of specific companies can also be incorporated in this pattern. Linkage is achieved via the parking street and a semipublic internal route below them, to which all the collective functions can be linked.
The first building in this complex is conceived like a piece of Meccano and consists of prefabricated elements with large spans and a lot of freedom in terms of internal layout and use. The exterior walls are made of a set of interchangeable prefab panels, ranging from totally transparent to totally opaque, and with accessories to match. This will allow the buildings to be adjusted over time and in response to shifting functions.

Location
Leuven
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
1999
Size (m²)
104.000

Client
Invest Immo
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Ester Goris, Tanja Lie, Lieven De Boeck, Anouk Kuitenbrouwer, Tobias Labarque
Consultants
Archi+ I (architect)
Ove Arup & Partners (structure, mechanics)
Robert Jan van Santen (façade)
Model
AMA
015

Pont du Gard

Nîmes

Urban

Competition, 1st Prize

Built

1999–2002

11.000

The two banks of the river Gard in the zone around the Roman aqueduct consist of a sequence of campsites, car parks, meadows, quarries and original rocky landscape. The use of the site varies sharply across the seasons, but steadily intensifying tourist pressure prompted a rethink of the entire location. Two museums are also nearby, though out of sight of the historic bridge itself.
The brief was to adapt the zone to accommodate the flow of visitors, with information facilities, catering outlets, a temporary marketplace, picnic areas, seats, toilets, rubbish bins, signposting, drinking fountains and lighting. The existing road leading to and from the monument is transformed into an instrument stimulating, organizing and freeing up the site, with the concentration of facilities on the road leaving the rest of the site more or less untouched. Everything is placed in, on, under, along or above the road. The functions in question are ordered repetitively, positioned in an ad hoc manner or adapted to the existing topography.

Location
Nîmes
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Built
Year
1999–2002
Size (m²)
11.000

Client
CCI de Nîmes-Bagnols-Uzes
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects), Maarten Van Severen Design
Concept: Xaveer De Geyter, Maarten van Severen, Lieven De Boeck, Freek Persyn, Oscar Juarros
Definitive design: Xaveer De Geyter, Maarten Van Severen, Freek Persyn, Halewijn Lievens with Stéphanie Everaert, Bruno Poelaert
with
Cusy Maraval Architectes
Maarten van Severen Design
014

Sint-Pieters Station

Ghent

Urban

Study

Completed

1999

126.000

This study explores how an important railway station and the surrounding district on the edge of the city can be given a new life on the eve of general gridlock on the roads. The plan has three parts – a general planning vision of the overall station district, a building design for the sites freed up along the railway and a proposal for doubling the station’s capacity as an interchange.
The station was built on an existing railway line at the edge of the city, in the first place to make the nearby site of the 1913 World Exhibition more accessible. The surrounding area developed on an ad hoc basis into a fragmented sequence of different construction typologies of varying density, with no clear linkage with the centre and divided in two by the barrier formed by the railway embankment. Large, monofunctional entities have been inserted between the residential properties. At the same time, this is one of the most accessible locations in the country – the station is the second most important in Flanders in terms of the number of passengers changing trains, and is the hub for all municipal and regional transport. It is located one kilometre from the city’s outer ring road and two kilometres from the junction of the E17 and E40 motorways.
In their present condition the station itself and its immediate environment are ill-prepared for the forecast flows of traffic; the square in front of the station has been reduced to a manoeuvring area for buses and cars and there are very few parking facilities for cars and bicycles. Circulation spaces are generally too tight and the area behind the station is desolate.
We propose to dig out the embankment along the whole width of the station square and laying it out as a new interchange for the different transport systems. This would alleviate two of the station’s most acute problems – lack of space for switching from one mode of transport to another and the barrier formed by the railway dam – while restoring the original function of the station square. The 2.5 hectare area below the tracks incorporates at ground level a 1 hectare bus station, a new tram station, a central ticket office and commercial spaces along the new pedestrian axes, which are conceived as a continuation of the surrounding street pattern. The first underground level has a bicycle park for 5000 cycles, while parking for 1000 cars is located a level further down. The different levels slope gently in different directions, which serves to connect them. A supermarket intersects all the floors, and there is a cafeteria at platform level.
Our proposal views the station district as a new pole capable of asserting itself relative to the city centre. The character of the districts around the station is acknowledged, strengthened and condensed. In the Sint Pieters Aalst district to the south of the station, new companies are inserted among the existing blocks and the College campus is condensed to form a real campus with a more refined network of green external spaces.
The land along the railway line is split up into three zones, each with its own form and density in terms of urban planning. Along the river Leie (Lys) to the west, the strip is combined with the land to the north of Fabiolalaan to create a parklike unity, containing a few isolated buildings, each with its own style and scale. The zone in the middle has a density comparable to the existing blocks in the Rijsenberg district. The new insertions, by contrast, consist of semi-open blocks oriented alternately towards Fabiolalaan and the railway embankment. The third part, to the side of the station square and within walking distance of the station, comprises a high density battery of buildings, including offices, apartments, a cinema complex and shops that are linked at ground level by a public foyer.

Location
Ghent
Type
Urban
Procedure
Study
Status
Completed
Year
1999
Size (m²)
126.000

Client
Euro Immo Star NV
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, Karolien De Schepper, Ester Goris, Oscar Juarros, Christoph Loetscher, Freek Persyn, Lieve Van De Ginste
011

Carrefour de l'Europe

Brussels

Urban

Competition, 1st Prize

Competition

1997–1998

365.642

More than four centuries of urban transformation between the St Michael’s Cathedral and Mont des Arts have failed to keep up with the changing significance of this location. For a long time this area functioned as a link between the upper and lower city: the first one corresponding with the medieval commercial Brussels and the second with the modern power- centers of Brussels, with its typical axis’ and vistas. The whole area has a history of quick successions of alterations, one change very often being the negation of the previous one. During the 20th century several interventions connected the area with the hinterland. Those successive additions of new infrastructures (the North–South railway junction, the Central Station, the urban clearway, a multilevel car park and the metro system) changed the identity of the district on regular intervals and transformed it into one of the biggest transit zones in Belgium. Individual buildings were added to the new infrastructure, leaving an ocean of undefined open spaces between them.
A series of new spaces were created underground – partly new programs, partly leftovers from the new infrastructure. That open space was appropriated in turn in the 1980s for the construction of hotels – freestanding, once again. The residual urban space was rendered even seedier than it had been before. The competition that prompted our project called for that space to be redeveloped. Our proposal took the existing, solitary buildings and the non-constructed area and merged them with new infrastructure and construction to form a ‘superblock’ with the Central Station as its heart. The Boulevard de l’Impératrice is branched off into surrounding streets and car parks and public space within the block are focused into a chain of existing and new spaces.
The elaboration of the concept reflects the following hyperrealist principles:
– The existing buildings – whatever their style – are accepted as an economic reality and are recycled in the conglomerate. – Possible building is subject to a series of old-fashioned planning regulations in the form of protected views (from the Royal Palace, for instance). The added program is geared towards the needs and potential of the site:
– A bus station in the form of a curved tunnel cuts through the conglomerate, providing accommodation for the 600 buses that stop at the Central Station every day and for tourist coaches.
– The Palais des Congrès at the bottom of the Mont des Arts and the smaller facilities in the various hotels are linked by recycling underground spaces and by new, largescale conference facilities.
– The block is further filled in with a mix of offices, housing facilities and hotels. The functions of the existing buildings are, in some instances, reordered. We include housing, for instance, in the Gare Centrale around the main hall and in the upper part of the Lotto Tower. The block is added to the city as a new element – the situation beyond it remains unchanged, apart from three new public gardens. These are inserted as horizontal planes in the sloping part of the city, and each opens up part of the underground infrastructure:
– A garden shaped like a negative of the base of the Cathedral as a stepping stone between the centre and the church.
– A stone patio between Rue Ravenstein and Montagne du Parc provides direct access to the underground metro station.
– An entrance to the station with a cutaway from the intermediate level of the
North–South link between Mont des Arts and Magdalene Church.

Location
Brussels
Type
Urban
Procedure
Competition, 1st Prize
Status
Competition
Year
1997–1998
Size (m²)
365.642

Client
City of Brussels
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, Ester Goris, Oscar Juarros, Karolien De Schepper, Freek Persyn, Lieve Van de Ginste
Model
Vincent De Rijck
Photos
Hans Werlemann
010

UIA

Antwerp

Education

Competition

Competition

1997

16.500

All manner of faculties are already based in the immediate vicinity of this location in the centre of the city, where they are scattered around the surrounding blocks.
There is no sense of a ‘campus’, however – the buildings as a whole are invisible in the cityscape. The addition of a large new university building provides the opportunity to create a focus for this disparate collection.
The central element of our plan is a large, raised and partially covered square, which takes up most of the site. This immediately forms a linking element between the new giant structure and the varying scale of the surroundings.
It also functions as a buffer between the two planned construction phases of the complex.
The supposedly coherent city centre consists here of a rather wild confrontation between different scales – one adjacent street is made up of office blocks with an average of six storeys, while the other is flanked by small, low-rise houses next to a colossal church tower. The blind//blank walls inside the block display a similar, cheerful variety. The total volume of the new structure matches the height of the street with the offices, with the square mediating between the other scales. It functions in the narrow streets as a kind of public balcony. The base consists of an underground car park and one faculty at street level. A patio has been hollowed out into this up to parking level. The library is conceived as an autonomously operating building built alongside the square with its main entrance opening onto it. All sorts of elements on the square await the superstructure – a rising floor for the large auditorium, lift shafts, support elements, and so on. The superstructure, which will also have a large central opening, will be made out of prefabricated elements and will be supported by steel frame girders. The different auditoria form a spiral leading from the square to the roof.

Location
Antwerp
Type
Education
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
1997
Size (m²)
16.500

Client
University of Antwerp
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Lieven de Boeck, Karolien de Schepper, Ester Goris, Arnaud Hendrickx, Oscar Juarros, Freek Persyn
Collaborators
Macken & Macken (partner architect)
Ove Arup & Partners (structure)
Photos
XDGA
009

Vleeshuis

Antwerp

Cultural

Competition

Competition

1998–1999

12.500

This study explores ways of incorporating a history museum in the Vleeshuis.
The historic building is located in the oldest section of the city, with its concentric street pattern and remains of the original city wall. Both the immediately surrounding area and the building itself can form part of the exhibition. As a public building, the museum can also exert an influence on the character of the neighbourhood – currently an introverted residential zone. A key issue, finally, is how to overcome the limited accessibility of the upper part of the building.
The monolithic Vleeshuis (the butchers’guildhouse) comprised a public section – a market hall with open doors at street level – and a private upper storey used for guild business. Our proposal envisaged turning the Gothic hall into a public space once again – an intermediary between the city and the museum. The covered square includes several kiosks for tourists and local people. Temporary exhibitions are housed in the basement, which looks out onto the Burggracht.
The museum itself consists of the upper storeys and a new building on the opposite side of the street. This is linked to the upper part of the Vleeshuis by an angled lift, which would allow the topmost storeys to be opened up.
This avoids harming the Gothic vault above the market hall and only requires a single opening in the building’s main façade. The entrance point is in the new building near the old city wall. The lift carries visitors over the street and into the attic storey of the Vleeshuis, where the exhibition begins. The circuit ends in the basement of the new building, with visitors returning via the museum shop to their starting point at street level.
The new building is defined by two walls. The first is the existing one on the building line of the city wall – a patchwork of different materials from successive periods. The other is the new façade, made up of types of glass that vary – transparent, translucent, coloured or black – depending on the function located behind them. The low storeys with wooden floors in the roof trusses will be made suitable for exhibition purposes by a series of voids.

Location
Antwerp
Type
Cultural
Procedure
Competition
Status
Competition
Year
1998–1999
Size (m²)
12.500

Client
City of Antwerp
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Lieven De Boeck, Karolien De Schepper, Oscar Jarros, Freek Persyn
Collaborators
Macken & Macken (partner architect)
ABT Lipski (structure, mechanics)
008

Îlot St. Maurice

Lille

Urban

Commission

Built

1996–2005

29.710

On the edge of the new Euralille centre, cut from it by a ring road, this urban project faces the suburbs of the city. Like most components of the Euralille scheme it is a big entity of program isolated from others by infrastructure. It is also the first project in a series that should link Euralille to the surrounding city.
The program calls for a very dense coexistence of housing, workspaces and shops. At the same time the buildings are limited to a maximum height of 9 levels. A carpet of trees - part of a green belt along the former city ramparts - and surrounding road infrastructure pin down the undulating topography of the terrain. A raised service road borders the site like a belvedere.
The undulating surface is interpreted as an access device to different ground floors: all shops, entrance lobbies and parking garages, stacked on top of each other, can be directly accessed from it. A series of interrupted but formally coherent building strips defines a network of outside space that opens up to all sides. This layout ensures a strong identity and a capacity to match the different surroundings. The outside space is conceived as a patchwork of juxtaposed urban typologies. The dense building occupation of the site is offset by roof-terraces and floating gardens stretching out towards the towers of Euralille.

Location
Lille
Type
Urban
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
1996–2005
Size (m²)
29.710

Client
SAEM Euralille
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
urban plan: Xaveer De Geyter, Oscar Juarros, Lieven De Boeck, Karolien De Schepper, Freek Persyn, Lieve Van De Ginste, Anouk Kuitenbrouwer
public space: Xaveer De Geyter, Anouk Kuitenbrouwer, with Lieve Van De Ginste, Oscar Juarros,Tobias Labarque
Collaborators
Laloux + Lebecq Architectes (local architect)
Fabienne Fendrich Paysagiste(landscape)
CUDL (Communauté Urbain De Lille) (realisation)
Photos
Hans Werlemann, David Wauthy
007

Chassé Park Breda

Breda

Residential

Commission

Built

1996–2001

33.420

A former military base in the centre of Breda has been reclaimed by the city. It is a green area with a series of large buildings with varying functions on the city side. The development plan by OMA comprises a public park in which a series of varied residential buildings are set individually, placing the surrounding buildings in a new context. A series of through views and entrances into the park have also been created.
One group consists of a series of five residential towers on top of a parking ring, which surrounds a sunken inner garden – also public. The entrances to each of the towers open onto the garden. The parking ring rises 1.5 meters above ground level and is partly transparent, while hillocks are included in the inner garden, which rise in turn above the parking roof.
The towers are located close together, each with its own orientation. Their position relative to one another is determined by factors such as the view outwards and inwards, exposure to sunlight, transparency and the definition of the inner zone. Three of the five towers have two apartments per storey, the fourth one and the fifth four. The varying relative position of the towers creates small differences in ground plans and elevations. All the apartments have a large veranda, which can be used as an external space, a separate room or as part of the living room. The materials are limited to glass, prefabricated concrete panels inlaid with slate and glazed white bricks for the façades. The garage roof is made of translucent polyester, while a concrete framework acts as the support structure behind the glass curtain walls.

Location
Breda
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
1996–2001
Size (m²)
33.420

Client
Chassé CV
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Ester Goris, with Karolien de Schepper, Burton Hamfelt, Lieven De Boeck, Lieve van de Ginste, Oscar Jarros, Arnaud Hendrickx, Freek Persyn
Consultants
ABT Bouwkunde (realization)
Snellen, Meulemans en Van Schaaik (engineering)
Inside Outside, Petra Blaisse (landscape)
Photos
Wim Ruigrok, Petra Stavast, Hans Werlemann
004

Borneo Sporenburg

Amsterdam

Residential

Commission

Discontinued

1994–1995

3.920

The project consists is part of an ambitious residential development plan in the harbor of Amsterdam, near the city centre. The urban concept, developed by West8 / Adrian Geuze, is marked by the confrontation between patchworks of high density individual houses and 3 massive housing blocs. All the houses are executed with individual entries and roof terraces. This density creates an introvert character that contrasts with the open surface of the surrounding water. The only specific element in our parcel is a perpendicular road that connects 2 boulevards with each other.
The plan is organized following a check board pattern where built and open surfaces alternate; the basic type is a stacked house. Every house has its entrance on the ground level and a roof terrace on the forth floor.
Within this scheme, the functions are organized in layers: ateliers, shops, entrances and garages on the ground level; entrance halls, sleeping rooms and bathrooms on the first floor, living rooms and kitchen on the second floor. The pavilion on the roof can be used in different ways according to the situation of the house in the urban plan. A semi-public circuit with backdoors leading to each house has been organized on the level of the roofs. This circuit is accessible by elevators and staircases. Two semi-public roof terraces are connected to these circuits. On the roof a landscape of pavilions and roof gardens unfolds.

Location
Amsterdam
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Discontinued
Year
1994–1995
Size (m²)
3.920

Client
New Deal
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, Karolien De Schepper, Fuminori Hoshino
Photos
XDGA
003

House in Sint-Niklaas

Sint-Niklaas

Residential

Commission

Built

1992–1993

270

The project is developed on two levels.
One, partially underground and closed, contains the entrance, the bedrooms and the garage.
The other presents itself as a completely free plan containing the living room, which overlooks the corn fields.
A wooden box, when closed, defines the different areas: kitchen and dining room.
This box contains the entrance stairs, storage space and the sanitaries.
Its walls furthermore hide a sliding door able to convert the south-west corner of the living room into a covered terrace, when the two corner glass surfaces are opened.

Location
Sint-Niklaas
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
1992–1993
Size (m²)
270

Client
Private
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer De Geyter, with Alain De Backer
Consultants
Jereon Thomas (structure)
Photos
(c)XDGA
002

House near Antwerp

Antwerp

Residential

Commission

Built

1990–1992

393

The site is located in a luxurious outer district of Antwerp, with oversized detached houses on plots cut out of the woods. A leftover inland dune separates the plot from the street. It has been transformed from a natural barrier into a threshold for the house that stands just behind it so as to maintain intimacy and a certain discretion with respect to the street. A drive – complete with red and white striped barrier – leads from the dune onto the roof. Only two outlines are visible above the dune – a translucent square garage and a triangular metal volume shielding the main entrance. A slope, half inside and half outside, cuts the square volume of the house into two sections with differing programs. The children’s apartment, which opens onto one of the two small patios, is on one side, while the parents’ section on the other is organized around a central patio and has a maximized view of the garden.
The interior is further divided into several layers parallel with the street. The transition from one zone to another is articulated by a series of shifts in the materials used for the floor and walls – carpet, vinyl, concrete, tiles and wood – while the garden, which was designed by Yves Brunier, is steadily revealed.

Location
Antwerp
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
1990–1992
Size (m²)
393

Client
Private
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Xaveer de Geyter with Piet Crevits, Alain de Backer
Consultants
Jeroen Thomas (structure)
Yves Brunier (landscape)
Model
Frans Parthesius, Vincent de Rijck
Photos
Hans Werlemann
001

House at Mariakerke

Ghent

Residential

Commission

Built

1989–1991

350

The Flemish landscape is a hotchpotch of subdivisions and plots that have yet to be subdivided. Most houses in the subdivisions refer to an earlier open landscape – a neo-rural style that seems to be the only option now for ‘living in the country’.
We sought in this project to go with the real landscape. The site is located on the corner of a subdivision, in that it borders on three other fragments of the patchwork. One is the grounds of a former seminary, another is the remains of a piece of grassland, while the third is a 1960s subdivision that is entirely shielded by greenery.
In response to this situation, the site was divided into four parts intersecting a volume in the middle of it. The volume itself was more or less determined by planning regulations – a building in the middle of the site with a sloping roof. Each cut-out defines part of the programme.
The carport and the entrance are oriented towards the new residential area, the terrace looks out onto the 1960s subdivision, the living room and garden are lowered to the level of the grassland and the studio and patio on the north-eastern parts of the first and second floors look out onto the grounds of the former seminary.
The different materials emphasize this breakdown, with the monolithic unity of the anthracite plasterwork alternated with white paint, a polyester case for the carport and the porch, transparent polycarbonate for the studio and a steel curtain and awning for the terrace.

Location
Ghent
Type
Residential
Procedure
Commission
Status
Built
Year
1989–1991
Size (m²)
350

Client
Private
Architect
XDGA (Xaveer De Geyter Architects)
Consultants
Jereon Thomas (structure)