Celebrating Public Architecture

CELEBRATING PUBLIC
ARCHITECTURE
Buildings from the Open Call
in Flanders 2000–21
FLORIAN HEILMEYER (ED.)
Architecture

4 THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS:
THE OPEN CALL IN FLANDERS
by FLORIAN HEILMEYER
PROJECTS #1—18
8 #1 Social Housing in Wulpen
Puls Architecten
10 #2 Town Hall in Diksmuide
ono architectuur and Callebaut Architecten
14 #3 Care Home in Ostend
Bovenbouw Architectuur
18 #4 Crematorium in Ostend
OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen
20 #5 Social Housing in Gistel
Witherford Watson Mann Architects
24 #6 Primary School in Zarren
FELT Architecture & Design
26 #7 Town Hall in Menen
noAarchitecten
28 #8 City Library in Blankenberge
Sergison Bates Architects
30 #9 Pedestrian Bridge in Knokke-Heist
Ney & Partners
34 #10 Primary School in Bruges
Tom Thys Architecten and Carton123 Architecten
38 #11 Administrative Center in Oostkamp
Carlos Arroyo Architects
42 #12 School in Ruiselede
Hootsmans Architectuurbureau
44 #13 Crematorium in Kortrijk
Eduardo Souto de Moura and SumProject
46 #14 Sports Center in Sint-Jan-in-Eremo
Coussée & Goris Architecten
50 #15 Care Home in Nevele
51N4E
52 #16 Administrative Center in Deinze
Tony Fretton Architects
54 #17 Art Academies in Deinze
Studio Lens°Ass and WIT Architecten
56 #18 Theater and Cultural Center in Deinze
TRANS architectuur | stedenbouw and V+
61 THE OPEN CALL AND THE
WONDER YEARS OF FLEMISH
ARCHITECTURE
by FLORIAN HEILMEYER
PROJECTS #19—38
78 #19 University Library in Ghent
Robbrecht en Daem Architecten
82 #20 City Library in Ghent
Coussée & Goris Architecten and
RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes
86 #21 Care Home in Oudenaarde
noAarchitecten
88 #22 Police Station in Brakel
ORG Permanent Modernity
90 #23 Community Center in Moorsel
De Kort Van Schaik and Sophie Van Noten Architect
94 #24 City Library in Dendermonde
BOB361 Architects
96 #25 Community Center in Bornem
MORGEN Architectuur
98 #26 Cemetery in Antwerp
AKB_architectuur Kristoffel Boghaert
102 #27 Library, Police Station and Academy in Wilrijk
Baumschlager Eberle Architekten
104 #28 Elite Sports School in Antwerp
Compagnie-O
108 #29 Province of Antwerp Headquarters
xdga Xaveer de Geyter Architects
112 #30 Master Plan IGLO in Antwerp
Tractebel
116 #31 Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp
KAAN Architecten
120 #32 School Campus in Antwerp
Stéphane Beel Architecten
122 #33 Public Square in Antwerp
Studio Associato Bernardo Secchi Paola Viganò
124 #34 Concert Hall in Antwerp
SimpsonHaugh Architects
128 #35 Master Plan Falconplein in Antwerp
Rapp+Rapp and West 8
130 #36 Master Plan Scheldekaaien in Antwerp
PROAP Estudos e Projectos de Arquitectura
Paisagista and WIT Architecten
132 #37 Sluice Operating Post in the Antwerp Harbor
Goldsmith.Company
134 #38 Port Authority Headquarters in Antwerp
Zaha Hadid Architects

139 THE OPEN CALL: SEARCHING
FOR QUALITY IN A JOINT
PROCESS
by ANNE MALLIET
PROJECTS #39—51
146 #39 Administrative Center in Brasschaat
Compagnie-O
148 #40 Kindergarten and Parks Maintenance Depot
51N4E
152 #41 School for Secondary Education in Merksem
HUB
154 #42 Master Plan for the Care Sector in Borgerhout
Collectief Noord
158 #43 School Campus in Deurne
aaa—architectuuratelier ambiorix
160 #44 Social Housing in Zandhoven
Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven
162 #45 Social Housing in Berlaar
Van Belle & Medina Architects
164 #46 Primary School in Rumst
Bovenbouw Architectuur
166 #47 Two Bridges in Mechelen
Dietmar Feichtinger Architects
168 #48 Primary School in Mechelen
Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven
170 #49 Holocaust Museum in Mechelen
awg architecten
172 #50 City Library in Mechelen
Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten
176 #51 School Campus in Mechelen
Label architecture
194 #56 Two Reception Areas for the
Botanical Garden in Meise
NU architectuuratelier
196 #57 Care Home in Machelen
Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten
198 #58 Agricultural School in Leuven
OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen
202 #59 Public Park and Bike Highway in Leuven
Artgineering and H+N+S Landscape Architects
204 #60 Crematorium in Holsbeek
Coussée & Goris Architecten and
RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes
206 #61 Primary School in Tienen
B-ILD Architects
208 #62 Care Home in Oosterlo
NU architectuuratelier
212 #63 Master Plan and Community
Center in Kasterlee
Dierendonckblancke architecten
216 #64 Animal Campus in Lommel
Collectief Noord
218 #65 Law Faculty for the University in Hasselt
noAarchitecten
222 #66 Master Plan for a Care Campus
in Genk and Zonhoven
Dierendonckblancke architecten
224 #67 Municipal Sports Hall in Genk
BEL Architects
228 #68 Cultural Center in Bocholt
ono architectuur
232 #69 School Campus in Riemst
Dierendonckblancke architecten
234 #70 Bridge and Bunker Museum in Vroenhoven
Ney & Partners
179 THE OPEN CALL
IN 10 STEPS
PROJECTS #52—70
184 #52 Academy in Dilbeek
Carlos Arroyo Architects
188 #53 Water Silo in Beersel
BEL Architects and Bureau d’Études Weinand
190 #54 School Campus in Brussels
BOGDAN & VAN BROECK
192 #55 Kindergarten in Etterbeek
evr-architecten
238 THE OPEN CALL AS A
DRIVING FORCE FOR
ARCHITECTURE CULTURE
by ERIK WIEËRS
APPENDIX
242 Architects A—Z
253 Photographers A—Z
255 Photo Credits
256 Colophon

THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS:
THE OPEN CALL IN FLANDERS
by FLORIAN HEILMEYER
The Open Call is unique in Europe. It is a very specific type of architectural
competition invented by the first Flemish Government Architect,
bOb Van Reeth, and it has been in practice in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking
North of Belgium, since 2000. It is tailored for all kinds of public
architecture commissions from large-scale urban master plans to individual
buildings. Every department of the Flemish government and all
municipalities can ask the team of the Flemish Government Architect for
its consultation on any building project. Together, the public principal
and the Government Architect then work on the brief for an Open Call,
inviting national and international architects to apply for the task.
It is important to state that the Open Call has been incredibly
productive over the past two decades since its inception. At the time of
writing—in May 2021—699 public building commissions have been published
for 333 different commissioners from all over Flanders, ranging
from new buildings to transformations and restorations, from schools
and kindergartens to museums and town halls, concert halls, office buildings,
public parks, and urban master plans. More than 4,500 offices
applied in over 5,000 different combinations. And while 209 commissions
were cancelled or re-started at some point for various reasons, a
total of 331 projects have been successfully completed. These are impressive
numbers. Even more impressive is the quality and imaginativeness
of many of the projects.
On the occasion of the twentieth birthday of the Open Call, it
seems appropriate to celebrate the quality of public architecture in Flanders—and
to look at what other countries might learn from this very
specific procedure. This book focuses on the built output of the Open
Call, presenting a selection of buildings or master plans that have
resulted from Open Calls. The selection was made in a collaboration
between the team of the Flemish Government Architect, the Flanders
Architecture Institute (VAi), ovis Publishers, and myself as the editor.
These were tough decisions that took months to resolve, mostly due to
the abundance of interesting projects. We didn’t have a specific number
of projects in mind, but since we intended to show a range of different
public projects—taking into account the differing type and scale of
buildings, regional distribution, a certain representation of national
and international architecture offices, as well as different principals
4
FLORIAN HEILMEYER

from the various governmental departments—we ended up with seventy.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to present all the projects that deserve
to be shown, so we encourage readers to explore the website of the Flemish
Government Architect, where all Open Calls are well documented
and updated regularly: www.vlaamsbouwmeester.be/en/instruments/
open-call.
For this book, we’ve sorted the projects into a roughly geographical
sequence, going from Flanders’ west coast landwards until we reach
the Belgian-Dutch border in the east. You can see it as an easy stroll
through the beautiful, versatile, and copious landscapes of contemporary
Flemish public architecture.
THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS: THE OPEN CALL IN FLANDERS
5

0 1 2
5m
JUST REVERSE THE BUILDING: Restoration, renovation,
and reorganization of the historic town hall and courtyard in
Diksmuide
Architects: ono architectuur and Callebaut Architecten (restoration); Commissioner: Stadsbestuur Diksmuide.
Open Call 1816; Address Grote Markt 6, 8600 Diksmuide; Date 2009–16; Budget 5.8 mil. Euro; Size 2,800 sqm;
Award Prijs Wivina Demeester 2016
The eclectic town hall of Diksmuide, a
city of about 16,000 inhabitants near
the Flemish coast, dates from 1925 and
is listed as a monument. With its elaborate
front and the slender bell tower
looming high above the historic marketplace,
the city sees the building as one
of its main “business cards.” However,
this business card was in dire need of
modernization. The rooms were not
fit for many functions and the building
lacked energy-efficiency as well as clear
routing and wheelchair accessibility.
The proposal of ono architectuur solved
this by entirely reversing the building’s
organization. The main entrance is
no longer through the meticulously
restored front façade, but via the beautiful,
quiet courtyard at the back. In
the historic façade, five former window
openings have been enlarged to
become an open arcade that opens the
building towards the courtyard. An
extremely light construction of thin
metal profiles and glass creates a new
entry zone, welcoming, warm and transparent.
A long, inclined concrete ramp
runs around the courtyard, forming a
protective wall while also gracefully
granting accessibility. From being an
almost unused space, the courtyard
now forms an intimate little square and
lively meeting zone. It is also connected
to the historic market square in front
of the Stadhuis via a public passage
between city hall and the tourist agency.
In the middle of the new courtyard, a
square patio guides visitors and staff
down into the historic basement, which
houses the art archive—the so-called
Wunderkammer—and quiet reading
rooms for research and study. All the historic
interiors, including a representative
entry hall, Gothic Hall, and the wedding
room, were given a sober aura thanks to
clear leveling and routing, rethinking
the interior room by room and subtle
but very precise restoration work.
10 #2 TOWN HALL IN DIKSMUIDE

#2 TOWN HALL IN DIKSMUIDE
11

16 #3 CARE HOME IN OSTEND

#3 CARE HOME IN OSTEND
17

COMPLETING THE BLOCK: Restoration, reorganization,
and new infill building for the historic town hall in Menen
Architects: noAarchitecten; Commissioner: Stadsbestuur Menen. Open Call 0210; Address Grote Markt 1, 8930 Menen;
Date 2002–12; Budget 6.25 mil. Euro; Size 4,100 sqm
The town hall of Menen is a listed building
block between two market squares
in the very city center. The rectangular
block consists of a historic belfry, the
town hall dating from the late eighteenth
century, a small enclosed courtyard, and
a nineteenth-century extension featuring
shops combined with dwellings above.
Although the complex gave the impression
of a coherent whole featuring monumental
façades, inside it was a labyrinth
in need of a thorough reorganization.
Its listed status required sensitivity to
the historical value of each of the elements
and layers from different eras.
The design by noAarchitecten focuses on
a clear definition and restoration of the
original buildings. They introduce two
autonomous, strong structures: a large,
two-story entrance hall with the council
chamber above, and a new circulation
structure placed in the former garden.
Like a light shelf, this structure of glass
and white steel gives access to all parts
of the complex, mediating between the
differing floor heights of the original
buildings, and bringing light into the
heart of the complex. The slenderness
and transparency of the added structure
gives its inside spaces an outdoor feeling
and strongly improves the orientation
of both visitors and staff. The new
entrance hall, however, is defined by a
concrete structure, subtly inserted into
the former historic courtyard. It features
square columns and a visible beam
structure that lies above the existing
space like a secondary layer. The design
sends a subtle but powerful message
that something has been done, yet
again, in a complex that has seen many
changes over the centuries but remains
a unified entity, perhaps now more
strongly tied together than ever before.
26 #7 TOWN HALL IN MENEN

#7 TOWN HALL IN MENEN
27

A NEW BACKBONE FOR THE OLD SCHOOL: Transformation
of a listed school building to city library in
Blankenberge
Architects: Sergison Bates Architects; Commissioner: Stadsbestuur Blankenberge in association with Dexia Bank NV.
Open Call 0508; Address Onderwijsstraat 17, 8370 Blankenberge; Date 2003–11; Budget 5.6 mil. Euro; Size 4,127 sqm
The Open Call for a new library in
the city of Blankenberge included the
restoration and conversion of a former
historic school building listed as a monument.
Parts of the building date back
to 1883, yet the project brief demanded
that just two sides of the historic façade
and the roof should be preserved. Consequently,
all the proposals removed
everything else and placed a new building
behind the two façades and under the
old roof—all except for Sergison Bates.
The British architects saw that the brief
required a variety of rooms dedicated
to a broad range of activities, and they
understood that the old building offered
just that: a set of different rooms of
varying atmospheres. Additionally, the
architects believed that the memories
contained in these spaces should be
preserved. So they added two small
annexes on each end of the building and
attached a new circulation arcade on the
rear side which had been in an incredibly
bad state of repair, facing a large
parking lot. In this way, the renovation
became like surgery: the addition on
the rear acts like a new spine, achieved
in one surprisingly easy operation—a
spine that offers a system of circulation
with self-explanatory connections
between the old spaces. This intelligent
proposal made it possible to preserve
most of the historic school building
while not compromising in designing a
good new library within the old walls.
“Without the Open Call, we probably wouldn’t be working
in Belgium. After the competition for Blankenberge,
we participated in many Open Calls and won seven more.
We’re indebted to a competition structure that has
created so many opportunities for us.”
MARINA ALDROVANDI, Sergison Bates Architects
28
#8 CITY LIBRARY IN BLANKENBERGE

#8 CITY LIBRARY IN BLANKENBERGE
29

PL.
Sk.
N.U
LET THE LIGHTS GUIDE YOU: Transformation of
a chapel into a school in Ruiselede
Architects: Hootsmans Architectuurbureau; Commissioner: Vlaamse overheid, Welzijn, Volksgezondheid
en Gezin, Agentschap Fonds Jongerenwelzijn, Afdeling Gemeenschapsinstellingen. Open Call 1401;
Address Bruggesteenweg 130, 8755 Ruiselede; Date 2007–14; Budget 2.7 mil. Euro; Size 1,500 sqm
De Zande is a monumental complex
from the nineteenth century, originally a
sugar factory, then used as a reformatory.
In the twentieth century it was turned
into a juvenile detention center. To
the northeast, next to the sports fields,
stands a large chapel from 1865, which
the institution wanted to reuse as its new
school building with twelve classrooms,
workshops, a fitness space, offices and a
separate teachers’ room. Given the fact
that all façades of the listed building had
recently been carefully restored, this
was an enormous spatial wish list. Plus,
if possible, the institution wanted to
preserve the uninterrupted experience of
the chapel’s main space.
The Dutch architects of Rob Hootsmans
came up with a surprising solution.
They fitted all rooms for fitness and
workshops in the cellar, then placed a
two-story structure in the main space for
all the classrooms, more or less filling up
the chapel. At first the client wanted to
refuse the proposal for this reason, but
was intrigued by the strange system of
oval windows in walls and floors. Their
forms imitate the spots of sunlight that
were cast into the chapel on the longest
and the shortest days of the year, June
21 and December 22 respectively. So
although you can no longer see the entire
space, fragments of it appear everywhere.
The idea is that when you move
around, a “mental picture” of the original
space emerges, like a puzzle, piece by
piece. Hootsmans calls this an “Emmental
structure,” which is “sometimes
comprehensible, sometimes mysterious
and ambiguous.” Additionally, a corridor
around the classrooms acts as a climate
buffer, where you can still experience the
height and length of the former chapel—
to give a frame to your mental picture.
42 #12 SCHOOL IN RUISELEDE

#12 SCHOOL IN RUISELEDE
43

58 #18 THEATER AND CULTURAL CENTER IN DEINZE

#18 THEATER AND CULTURAL CENTER IN DEINZE
59

world.” 4 To this day, Belgians enjoy flaunting this ugliness—as demonstrated,
for example, by the highly entertaining blog Ugly Belgian
Houses. 5 The end of this period of ugliness, indifference, and flabby materialism
crept in slowly. First, a number of state reforms starting in the
1970s turned the Kingdom of Belgium into a federation of three largely
autonomous regions: Flanders, Brussels, and Wallonia. The extraordinary
complexity of Belgium’s internal politics result from its further
division into three language communities: the Dutch-, French-, and German-speaking
populations each have a separate parliament with its own
responsibilities, and the territorial boundaries of the three regions and
language areas are not identical, but overlap. As such, Belgium is a largely
opaque mesh of decision-making channels. Fortunately, we do not need
to concern ourselves more deeply with these difficulties when considering
the Open Call, since it is tied only to the Flemish government, and
thus to the region of Flanders.
At around this time, Flanders began to experience an economic
upturn that provided new opportunities for a more ambitious architectural
scene. The first real “generation” of Belgian architects was “Generatie
74,” 6 named after the year in which Hilde Daem and Paul Robbrecht,
Marc Dubois, Christian Kieckens, and Marie-José van Hee celebrated
their graduation from the Sint-Lucas School of Arts in Ghent with an
exhibition that vociferously criticized architectural education in Flanders.
The wider community of this generation includes bOb Van Reeth,
Stéphane Beel, Willem Jan Neutelings, and Xaveer de Geyter. Compared
to today’s Flemish architects, this generation had a significantly harder
time in landing assignments. But slowly they made progress and are now
considered the wave of architects that laid the foundation for a vibrant
and self-assured architecture in Belgium—particularly in Flanders. This
generation did not share a unified stylistic or aesthetic approach to architecture
either. Despite this, there was a sense of unity regarding the need
to emancipate and professionalize the discipline, as well as with regard
to the importance of broadening the scope of architecture to reach other
fields—particularly by developing strong new connections with art and
urban planning.
THE INVENTION OF THE BOUWMEESTER
Despite all this, the 1980s and 90s were not easy for architects in Flanders
either. The true “wonder years” only began around the new millennium,
after architecture education at universities had improved. As
recently as the 1990s, many young Belgian architects chose to study or
work in the Netherlands, where the “SuperDutch generation” 7 was
spreading its wings. Among politicians in Flanders, the response to this
state of affairs came first and foremost from finance minister Wivina
Demeester. According to an oft-repeated legend, 8 in 1998, Demeester
62 FLORIAN HEILMEYER
4 Renaat Braem, Het
lelijkste land ter wereld
(Antwerp: VAi Publishers,
2018); re-edition of
the original text from
1968 in a new publication
with an essay by the
Flemish Government
Architect Leo Van Broeck
and a photo essay by Filip
Dujardin.
5 See https://uglybelgianhouses.tumblr.com
(last consulted 24 May
2021) and the book based
on the blog: Hannes
Coudenys, Ugly Belgian
Houses. Don’t try this at
home (Ghent: Borgerhoff
& Lamberigts, 2015).
6 See Caroline Voet, Katrin
Vandermarliere, Sofie De
Caigny, Lara Schrijver,
Autonomous Architecture
in Flanders: The Early
Works of Marie-José
Van Hee, Christian
Kieckens, Marc Dubois,
Paul Robbrecht and Hilde
Daem (Leuven: Leuven
University Press, 2016).
7 Baart Lootsma, Super-
Dutch. New Architecture
in the Netherlands
(Ashland, OH: B&T
Publishers, 2000).
8 For example, it is
recounted by Stefan
Devoldere in conversation
with Anh-Linh Ngo
in the article “Learning
from Flanders” (German),
Arch+ No. 220: Normcore.
Die Radikalität des
Normalen in Flandern
(2015).

1
2 3
4 5
Open Call 1516 for the Port Authority Headquarters in Antwerp.
All five final proposals from the competition:
1 Zaha Hadid Architects
2 xdga Xaveer De Geyter Architects
3 a2o architecten, Atelier Kempe Thill, Bureau d’Études Greisch, and Marcq & Roba
4 Vier Arquitectos
5 Rapp+Rapp
THE OPEN CALL AND THE WONDER YEARS OF FLEMISH ARCHITECTURE
63

involved were evidently unable to agree on the division of the costs for
the successful Open Call design agreed upon in 2014, and the winner of a
limited competition was announced in 2020. 10 The decision not to build
the original design was not publicly discussed, but quietly died. The
design submitted jointly by Robbrecht en Daem, Dierendonckblancke
architecten, Arup, and VK Engineering for the new headquarters of the
state TV and radio broadcaster VRT in Brussels shared a similar fate, but
its death was much more publicly discussed. Officially, the VRT project
was abandoned because the design turned out to be more expensive than
anticipated. A smaller building was to be designed and tendered through
a design-build process instead. It was reason enough for the architect
Philip Adam to write a critical article questioning whether this spelled
“the end of architecture competitions.” 11 Many other projects ended without
public interest.
However, some Open Calls have led to intense public debate—
such as that for the planned Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp
(M HKA) in 2020. Apparently, the responsible government department
would have liked to construct another outstanding building by a famous
architecture firm on the banks of the Scheldt, but the jury was unable to
come to an agreement. The project was terminated for the time being,
and—as annoyingly as unprecedentedly—the proposals were not even
published. In this case, the commissioner wanted to minimize a public
argument over the proposals. At the time of writing, it seems there will
be another Open Call for the museum. In the meantime, some daily
papers and trade press referred to this as a “drama” 12 and a “complete
derailment.” 13 The Dutch architecture critic Harm Tilman even saw the
failure of the project as grounds to bid a final farewell to the Open Call,
saying that the process had “lost its shine” and had “clearly outlived its
usefulness.” Since the competing designs for the M HKA were not made
public, preventing a comprehensive debate, Tilman concluded that Belgium’s
building culture was heading down the same dismal road as that
taken by the Netherlands some years earlier: “We in the Netherlands
must now go in search of a new country’s example to follow when it
comes to client commissioning.” 14
Despite all this, the case of the M HKA shines a light on one of
the Open Call’s fundamentally positive characteristics: the limited influence
of the Government Architect. He is neither an all-powerful client
representative nor the president of the jury, but rather a consultant participating
in a process with many actors. What’s more, the Government
Architect’s advice is non-binding. While this is a key requirement for
obtaining the trust of the authorities taking part in the process, it simultaneously
creates the problem that the clients are not obligated to implement
its outcome. The possibility of failure is an unavoidable component
of this, and it is always disappointing when it happens. That said,
the Open Calls became more stable over the course of the first twenty
years of the process. As such, a significantly lower percentage of Open
Calls conclude without a built result today than in the early years.
74
FLORIAN HEILMEYER
10 Editorial “Antwerpse
haven krijgt tegen 2024
een gloednieuwe controletoren,”
Het Laatste
Niews, 1 March 2020,
https://www.hln.be/
antwerpen/ antwerpsehaven-
krijgt-tegen-
2024-gloednieuwecontroletoren~
acde3a46/.
11 Philip Adam, “Het VRT
Gebouw: het einde van
de architectuurwedstrijden?,”
Architectura.
2 April 2020, https://
www.architectura.
be/nl/nieuws/43228/
opinie-philip-adam-
--het-vrt-gebouwhet-einde-van-dearchitectuurwedstrijden
(Dutch).
12 Marc Dubois: “Het
drama van M(U)HKA in
Antwerpen,” A+ online,
6 July 2020, https://
www.a-plus.be/nl/opinie/
het-drama-van-muhka-in-antwerpen/
(Dutch).
13 Jan Lippens, “Hoe de
architectuurwedstrijd
voor het nieuwe M HKA
compleet ontspoorde,”
Knack, June 24 2020,
https://www.knack.be/
nieuws/belgie/hoe-dearchitectuurwedstrijdvoor-het-nieuwe-m-hkacompleet-ontspoorde/
article-longread-1613373.
html (Dutch).
14 Harm Tilman: “Debacle
Open Oproep M HKA in
Antwerpen,” De Architect
online, July 12, 2020,
https://www.dearchitect.nl/architectuur/
blog/2020/07/debacleopen-oproep-m-hka-inantwerpen-101245595.

15 Marc Dubois. “Het spook
van de Gentse Opera,”
De Standaard, December
3, 2018 (Dutch).
THE OPEN CALL IN THE PUBLIC EYE
The Open Call for the opera house in Ghent generated lively debate for
other reasons. Of the five teams selected from the forty-nine applications,
none was headquartered in Belgium: two were from England and three
from the Netherlands. In an article for the daily newspaper De Standaard,
Belgian architect and critic Marc Dubois quickly pointed out that
the first Government Architect, bOb Van Reeth, had intended for the
finalists to include a young Flemish office in addition to one or two foreign
offices whenever possible. 15 While this is not a fixed requirement, it
is something that the process aims to achieve. Just a few days earlier,
director of the Flanders Architecture Institute Sofie De Caigny had published
an article with a similar thrust. She argued that the all-round
transparency of the Open Call was one of its most important characteristics,
and that the choice of teams for the opera was therefore disappointing.
In this case, she argued, it appeared that the Open Call had
played it safe by favoring well-known international offices over what
were perceived to be “smaller” Belgian names. But, as De Caigny put it:
“If we wish to reinforce the ‘Flemish Wave’ and advance the flourishing
architectural culture that has emerged in Flanders over the past decades,
opportunities must be made available for talent to break through the
‘glass ceiling’ of the big commissions.” 16 Both De Caigny and Dubois further
emphasised that the aim was not to promote protectionism by
excluding international offices. Rather, it was to pay greater attention to
the mix of candidates in the future. In fact, Dubois had already remarked
on this in March 2014, when only one Belgian office was chosen to compete
against four non-Belgian firms for the Polderbos crematorium project.
(As it happens, the Belgian firm OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van
Severen, did win in this case; see p. 18).
The lively public interest and commentary in all cases mentioned
here corroborate the relevance and good reputation that the Open Call
has attained in Flanders. Again and again, criticism is not of the process
itself, but instead aims (usually constructively) to affirm the original
intentions of the Open Call. Debates like these are a welcome part of a
transparent, democratic process that, in the case of M HKA would have
benefited from the publication of the designs submitted. The criticism
shows that the nature of the Open Call is not only particularly perceived
and valued as providing an opportunity for young talent, but also publicly
defended as such. The Government Architect and the commissioning
clients in the public sector need to find the “right” choice for every
project in order to achieve a result that the public finds satisfactory—a
feat that has to be accomplished anew for every commission. Ultimately,
both the Government Architect and the relevant building authority must
keep in mind that their work is in service of the public.
16 Sofie De Caigny, “Het
glazen plafond van de
Vlaamse architectuur,”
De Standaard, November
28, 2018 (Dutch).
THE OPEN CALL AND THE WONDER YEARS OF FLEMISH ARCHITECTURE
75

80 #19 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN GHENT

#19 UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN GHENT
81

100 #26 CEMETERY IN ANTWERP

#26 CEMETERY IN ANTWERP
101

THE TWISTING TOWER: Province of Antwerp
headquarters
Architects: xdga Xaveer De Geyter Architects; Commissioner: Provinciebestuur Antwerpen. Open Call 2101;
Address Koningin Elisabethlei 22, 2018 Antwerp; Date 2011–19; Budget 69.45 mil. Euro; Size 32,700 sqm
In 2011, the Province of Antwerp initiated
an Open Call for the replacement
of an outdated office tower on the
Koningin Elisabethlei, but to retain a
two-story pavilion as an artifact within
the new design. Xaveer de Geyter
Architects proposed to place the full
program in a compact rectangular tower
of 58 meters in height. Just above the
pavilion, the tower is split into two parts,
as if protecting it between its feet.
To realize this splitting of the tower, it
had to be constructed like a bridge with
large steel trusses hidden in the walls. It
is the triangular modules of those hidden
trusses from which the form of the 683
triangular windows of the façade derives.
The dark appearance of the windows
contrasts starkly with the white mosaic
tiles in between, resulting in an abstract,
shimmering tower in black and white.
And it has a twist: the upper floors rotate
as they ascend floor by floor. This is
not just an aesthetic decision, though it
does give the building a light and fluid
look. From some perspectives, it appears
slender, while from others you can see
its full width. But more importantly,
the tower leaves a large part of the site
free to become a public park—and it is
the twist that reduces shadows on surrounding
buildings and lets sunlight pass
onto the new greenery. Now publicly
accessible, this former backyard becomes
an important green connection between
two major public parks. During the
design process, it became apparent that
the old pavilion wasn’t suitable for the
public program it was to host, so it was
finally replaced by a fully glazed volume
to house a public foyer, two auditoria
and an exhibition space to display works
from the provincial art collection.
108 #29 PROVINCE OF ANTWERP HEADQUARTERS

#29 PROVINCE OF ANTWERP HEADQUARTERS
109

A GIANT STAGE: Redesign of the Theaterplein in Antwerp
Architects: Studio Associato Bernardo Secchi Paola Viganò in collaboration with Dirk Jaspaert/BAS (structural engineer);
Commissioner: Stadsbestuur Antwerpen. Open Call 0611; Address Theaterplein, 2000 Antwerpen; Date 2004–08;
Budget 4.1 mil. Euro; Size 28,000 sqm (square), 5,000 sqm (roof); Award Best public space in Flanders, 2008
The design has eliminated all barriers
on the square. As a smooth surface of
tinted concrete, it drops with a slight
slope of two percent to connect to
the boulevards around. All margins
of the square were designed differently,
according to their character and
function. To the south, at the end of
the slope, grows a little garden. So the
emptiness is still here, yet it is no longer
desolate but filled with possibilities.
The Theaterplein is one of Antwerp’s
largest squares. It is presided over by the
Stadsschouwburg, the theater that gives
the square its name and closes off its
northern end with a rather harsh façade.
Although the square is surrounded by
more theaters, it had little, or at best,
intermittent vitality. Apart from Saturday’s
food market and Sunday’s bird
market, the large barren emptiness
made it an ill-defined space. In 2004,
the city launched an Open Call to make
this a more inviting place, offering a
maximum of possible appropriations
including open-air plays or concerts
organized by the surrounding venues.
At the same time, the design was to
take into consideration the old emergency
stairs of the Stadsschouwburg,
and a large underground car park.
The competition was won by Italian
architects Paola Viganò and Bernardo
Secchi with a proposal to construct a
large podium with a wide, transparent
ceiling twenty-three meters above. This
roof is supported by an array of seven
by six thin metal pillars, painted white,
as a vertical prolongation of the car park
below. The columns act as drainpipes
for rainwater and hold spotlights, too,
which at night illuminate the roof from
below. On the eastern side—and with a
certain sense of drama— the architects
have placed a set of three open-air emergency
stairs of galvanized steel. The
structure can support any backdrop for
open-air events, so it becomes a giant
stage for the square’s appropriation.
“How an unsightly open space becomes a warm public
place in the city, at the same time giving an ugly building
a face: a real urban fact. This makes me happy.”
BOB VAN REETH, Flemish Government Architect 1999–2005
122 #33 PUBLIC SQUARE IN ANTWERP

#33 PUBLIC SQUARE IN ANTWERP
123

138 #38 PORT AUTHORITY HEADQUARTERS IN ANTWERP
138

THE OPEN CALL: SEARCHING FOR
QUALITY IN A JOINT PROCESS
by ANNE MALLIET
The Open Call is not an architecture competition, but a “selection procedure
for designers of public building assignments.” It is not about choosing
a design, but a designer. bOb Van Reeth, when he was appointed as
the first Flemish Government Architect in 1999, already had a great deal
of experience with architecture competitions. He believed that the focus
of competitions on a finished design was a mistake and that this had to
change in the Open Call. He wanted to develop a procedure that would
search for quality at every step.
“In selecting architects, the holding of a competition is a means,
but this means cannot be classified as a tool for the search for quality.
Comparing designs with the aim of selecting from among them a design
to be executed is at odds with a process that involves a joint search for
quality by the contracting authority, the designer and the artist. When
comparing and testing designers, one should above all look for a design
vision that is in line with the contracting authority’s vision and the
search for a diversity of architectures.” 1
Indeed, the Open Call was conceived so that a limited number of
designers would “go through part of the design process together with
the contracting authority.” 2 The authority then chooses one of the designers.
After the award comes the actual design process, whose finality is
the definitive design. It can happen that the first concept or rough design
hits the bull’s-eye, but more often than not, a great deal of fine-tuning is
required.
1 Flemish Government
Architect, Jaarverslag
1999 (Annual report
1999), 54.
2 Flemish Government
Architect, ‘Halfweg’
Jaarverslag 2000 (“Halfway”
Annual Report), 47.
THE PROJECT DEFINITION AND THE CULTURAL DIMENSION
OF PUBLIC BUILDING
With this in mind, the emphasis was placed on the importance of the
“project definition.” Commissioning parties were used to expressing their
needs in a program of requirements, floor areas and a budget. From now
on, they also had to articulate their expectations and ambitions in the
form of a project definition. It had to explain the building need from the
viewpoint of the commissioning authority’s social task. The Government
Architect questions the meaning of the project for the city, society,
THE OPEN CALL: SEARCHING FOR QUALITY IN A JOINT PROCESS
139

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: Kindergarten and Parks
Maintenance Depot in Merksem, Antwerp
Architects: 51N4E; Commissioner: AG VESPA for Stadsbestuur Antwerpen and Bedrijf Lerende Stad. Open Call 1610;
Address Speelpleinstraat 55, 2170 Merksem; Date 2008–12; Budget 1.8 mil. Euro; Size 3,500 sqm
is a circular courtyard. Here, the children
can watch the workers next door through
an oversized panorama window—like
seeing a “Bob the Builder” story come
alive. By raising the level of the kindergarten,
the architecture enables children
and adult workers to meet (almost) at
eye-level. Furthermore, the staff of both
the kindergarten and the park department
share a logistical area, the dining
and rest rooms. This small yet highly
complex building thus manages not only
to combine two very different programs,
fulfilling all necessities, but also to add a
joyful connection in the everyday routines
of both the children and the workers
of the parks and gardens department.
The site is located in the middle of a
green municipal park in the center of
Merksem. The municipality formulated
two different aims here for the construction:
a depot and workshop for the
city’s parks and gardens department,
and a new kindergarten for 144 children.
In the preparations for the Open
Call, the discussions of municipality
and the Team Flemish Government
Architect gradually altered the project
brief into a combination of both
programs within a single building—an
unusual question that found a brilliant
answer in the design by 51N4E.
“We use this project as a reference to demonstrate to
possible clients that we can make a more efficient use of
spaces if we combine differing programs in a smart way,
in this case bringing children into rare contact with the
working environment—something that has alas become
rare in today’s society.”
MARIO DEPUTTER, Team Flemish Government Architect
They created a circular building, like a
large pavilion in the park. The park’s
maintenance depot, with its need for
a larger parking area and garages, is
placed to the north along the street,
clearly marked by a strikingly folded
canopy. The kindergarten features a
circumferential veranda, widely opening
the fully glazed rooms to the park. The
architectural detailing emphasizes the
differences between the two spaces:
while all elements for the park’s maintenance
department are “big and rough,”
as the architects say, everything in the
kindergarten is “small and fragile.”
Both programs, however, coincide in the
spatial center of the kindergarten, which
148 #40 KINDERGARTEN AND PARKS MAINTENANCE DEPOT IN MERKSEM

#40 KINDERGARTEN AND PARKS MAINTENANCE DEPOT IN MERKSEM
149

AN INTENSE ABSENCE: Holocaust memorial and
museum for the Dossin Barracks in Mechelen
Architects: awg architecten; Commissioner: Vlaamse overheid, Diensten voor het Algemeen Regeringsbeleid, Afdeling
Communicatie. Open Call 1301; Address Goswin De Stassartstraat 153, 2800 Mechelen; Date 2007–12; Budget 14.5 mil.
Euro; Size 6,518 sqm (new building), 1,650 sqm (renovation)
During the Second World War, more
than 25,000 people were deported
from the Dossin Barracks to German
concentration camps. After the war,
this complicity with the Nazis in mass
murder was quietly concealed in Flemish
society. The barracks in Mechelen—a
place as a guilt-laden witness—were
tacitly converted into standard apartments.
It was not until fifty years after
the war that a small museum and memorial
were added to the site. Another ten
years later, an Open Call was launched
to build a study center, a memorial and
museum as one coherent whole. The city
purchased a large site across the street,
where a former prison was torn down.
The competition was won by awg
architects, who designed the museum
as a monument in itself. Throughout its
entire design, the building deals with an
“intense absence.” One of the prison’s
walls, which is a protected monument,
was integrated into the museum’s pedestal,
closing it off against the city. From
this solid base, a tower-like concrete
structure—more reminiscent of an
anti-aircraft bunker than a museum—
rises above. The entrance is a large sliding
door of rusty metal, a disturbing element
like a freight-wagon’s door, placed
out of any axial symmetry with the site.
The open square between barracks and
museum-fortress has been homogeneously
paved, forming a connecting element
between the two different entities.
Inside the tower, only the ground and
top floors enjoy natural light. The three
intermediate levels remain windowless;
the few window gaps are purely
symbolic and bricked up with more
than 25,000 bricks. These floors are
fully focused on the multimedia exhibitions
inside, again bearing witness
to absence and loneliness, perhaps
even causing a little claustrophobia.
Only when reaching the top floor is it
possible to step outside again, blinking
into the daylight and looking out
over both the city and the barracks.
170 #49 HOLOCAUST MUSEUM IN MECHELEN

#49 HOLOCAUST MUSEUM IN MECHELEN
171

ICON OF INFRASTRUCTURE: A sculptural water silo
in Beersel
Architects: BEL Architects and Bureau d’Études Weinand; Commissioner: TMVW Integraal Waterbedrijf. Open Call 1406;
Address Genstberg 33, 1652 Beersel; Date 2007–15; Budget 2.7 mil. Euro; Size 2,500 m3 (storage capacity)
Infrastructural buildings are rarely seen
as landmark design tasks, and Flanders is
no exception. Yet it is often infrastructure
that defines the appearance of our
surroundings, from bridges and railways
to power poles or parking areas—we
just take these structures for granted.
The old water tower near Beersel was
different, however. Built in 1938, it
stood on a hilltop by a roundabout,
overlooking a wide expanse of fields
with views of Brussels. It clearly was a
landmark in the landscape and a favorite
spot for touring cyclists, especially
during the biennial Brabantse Pijl, when
the tower was also used as look-out and
transmission mast. And yet it needed
replacement, since the water demand
asked for a capacity of 2,500 cubic meter
storage space instead of the meagre
500 cubic meters of the old tower.
For this prominent piece of infrastructure,
an Open Call was launched.
Winning the competition jointly, BEL
Architects and Bureau d’Études Weinand
proposed a bold figure: an inverted
pyramid, thirty-two meters high and
triangular in plan with a side length
of seven meters at its foot, rising to
twenty-four meters at the top. When
approached or passed on the roundabout,
its non-symmetrical silhouette
offers ever-changing perspectives,
growing bigger or smaller, wider or
narrower according to one’s position.
The construction is reduced to its bare
essence: a conical volume of exposed
reinforced concrete. All necessary technical
installations and the inspection
stairs remain visible. In pure technical
terms, this is not a classic water tower
but a water silo, since it is filled from
the bottom to the top, like a vase or a
beer glass. You could also compare it to
a ballerina, dancing on one toe: a toe
that is a hexagonal foundation handling
the enormous forces: when fully filled
the pyramid weighs 6l6 tons. Whatever
you see in it, it’s a beautiful figure in
the landscape and makes one wish that
planners would turn infrastructure
into a special design task more often.
188 #53 WATER SILO IN BEERSEL

#53 WATER SILO IN BEERSEL
189

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THE CENTER OF GRAVITY: Hofheide crematorium
in Holsbeek
Architects: Coussée & Goris Architecten and RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes in collaboration with OMGEVING;
Commissioner: Intergemeentelijke samenwerking (IGS) Hofheide. Open Call 1008; Address Jennekensstraat 5,
3220 Holsbeek; Date 2005–13; Budget 9.5 mil. Euro (building), 1 mil. Euro (landscape); Size 3,800 sqm (building),
36 ha (landscape); Award Provinciale Architectuurprijs Patrimonium voor de Toekomst 2015
The Spanish and Flemish architects of
RCR and Coussée & Goris had already
known each other for ten years, but this
Open Call provided the first opportunity
to work on a joint project. The cooperation
turned out so happily that they
came together again for a sequel: the
De Krook library in Ghent (see p. 82).
The two projects couldn’t be more different.
While the library in Ghent stands
in a dense urban context, for the design
of this regional crematorium the wide
open landscape was key. The architects
described the site as a “gentle swampy
basin.” They placed the crematorium as
an abstract sarcophagus, a heavy form
right in the middle of this basin, on
one of the lowest points. Further, they
put it in a shallow trough just below
ground water level, so that it becomes
surrounded by a shallow pond. The
gesture of this setting is continued with
an abstract architecture that turns the
crematorium into an archaic monument
older than any religion. Along the upper
two thirds, strips of weathered Corten
steel and irregular widths are mounted
to the external walls to form a canopy
above an open promenade that circles
around the building. Via three bridges,
the promenade connects to different
paths that span a network over the entire
terrain. The building sits like a spider in
the middle of this network, creating a
center of gravity for the entire landscape.
From the promenade, different routes
lead into the crematorium, where all
rooms and hallways are of a remarkable
height. The material palette of the surfaces
is reduced to concrete and a warm,
rusty metal. Lighting changes from a
dramatic vertical light-fall through skylights
to the dampened ingress of light
from horizontal slits, combined with
the reflections from the water surface
outside. With this powerful layout, the
crematorium changes the atmosphere
of the entire landscape into something
mystical and deeply ceremonial.
204 #60 CREMATORIUM IN HOLSBEEK

#60 CREMATORIUM IN HOLSBEEK
205

226 #67 MUNICIPAL SPORTS HALL IN GENK

#67 MUNICIPAL SPORTS HALL IN GENK
227

236 #70 BRIDGE AND BUNKER MUSEUM IN VROENHOVEN

“The integration of bridge, public space, and visitors center to the
bunker grants the site a new, very individual identity. In general, giving
a piece of infrastructure a destination quality happens far too rarely—
despite the fact that these are often fascinating locations where it’s
worth pausing for a moment. In this regard, integrating a visitors center
into the bridge’s abutment connected to a sloping square is truly an
exemplary project.”
STIJN DE VLEESCHOUWER, Team Flemish Government Architect
#70 BRIDGE AND BUNKER MUSEUM IN VROENHOVEN
237

THE OPEN CALL AS A DRIVING FORCE
FOR ARCHITECTURE CULTURE
by ERIK WIEËRS
The architecture competition has a long tradition. The earliest examples
date back to Ancient Greece, and it became a permanent feature of building
design from the Renaissance onward. At various times in history, the
competition has played a role in the breakthrough of trends and styles,
since it gives new approaches a chance to prove their quality and effectiveness.
For this reason, it came to be seen as a worthier alternative to a
direct assignment, with the commissioning authority postponing the
choice of architect until a concrete vision of the project is on the table.
The choice is therefore better informed in terms of content. The architecture
competition is also seen as a more qualitative and objective way
of appointing a designer for a project. There has even been a tendency to
regard the holding of a competition as a guarantee of the quality of the
built result.
But this is not always the case. The search for a good designer is
more complex, and putting different candidates in competition with each
other is not enough in itself. This was clearly understood when the Open
Call was conceived as a method for strengthening public commissions in
Flanders. The name says it all: it is a call, not a competition. This indicates
that the process of achieving architectural quality starts with the
announcement, the question. Twenty years ago, the initiators of the Open
Call rightly argued that architectural quality gains from posing an ambitious
question. It is a mistake to believe that more freedom leads to more
creativity. The quality of the result, the aptness of the answer, is tied to
the aptness of the assignment. With the Open Call, the responsibility for
quality was placed from the start equally on the contracting authority,
which uses public funds to serve the general interest, and the designer.
The question posed in detail in a project definition by the contracting
authority guides the designer to a well-founded answer. The
project definition must not only be extremely precise when it comes to
the concrete details of the assignment, but it must also formulate the
social ambitions in the broad sense. The role of the Team Flemish Government
Architect is crucial in this regard. The project supervisors assist
the commissioning authority in preparing the project definition. In
doing so they can draw on experience from both similar and different
kinds of projects. As a result, they can help to raise the project’s level of
ambition. They ensure that the commission is formulated broadly and
238
ERIK WIEËRS

place the assignment in a general social and cultural context. This stimulates
the candidate designers and generates characteristic and meaningful
answers. It feeds the urge for experimentation and innovation.
The improved quality of architectural production in Flanders is
therefore not only due to the fact that designers are increasingly creative:
the accumulation of knowledge within the Team Flemish Government
Architect and the discourse of the successive Government Architects—
who, every five years, emphasize different aspects and place new social
challenges on the agenda in order to strengthen the project definitions—
are equally crucial. The team also stimulates the development of specific
solutions by assisting the public commissioning authority in the selection
of candidates. The project supervisors have a thorough knowledge
of the world of architecture, and this knowledge has grown considerably
thanks to the years-long success of the procedure. A selection for an
Open Call is highly regarded in the profession and is seen as a confirmation
of the quality of the design office. It looks good in the portfolio of
up-and-coming talents and confirms the reputation of established firms.
The wide range of strong candidates who apply for every assignment
makes an increasingly interesting list from which the Government Architect
and the team make a selection in each case.
By aiming for diversity in the selection—from more experienced
designers to emerging talent or national and international offices with a
specific signature—the Team Flemish Government Architect can help
the contracting authorities to put together a variety of idiosyncratic
design visions. In addition to predictable qualitative solutions, standing
up for new, unexpected proposals is a deliberate strategy to guarantee
quality in the long term. By formulating explicit answers to concrete
assignments, young offices can build up a discourse that can grow into
their own architectural signature. By addressing ambitious questions put
by commissioning authorities, they can systematically raise the quality
of their architectural production.
The Open Call stands out from the traditional competition in
that the public design assignment is dealt with as a process in which
every step matters. This has turned many public bodies in Flanders into
exemplary contracting authorities and put the quality of architecture in
Flanders into a self-reinforcing mode. The constant raising of the degree
of ambition on a cultural-social level ensures increasingly apt answers;
this generates more opportunities to realize special designs and develop
a signature; and this in turn provides the Team Flemish Government
Architect with insights to help formulate the question even more precisely
and with even greater ambition on the next occasion. Moreover,
the whole procedure involves the uninitiated in the process of quality
architecture. By helping to formulate the project definition, the commissioning
parties (in many cases, local authorities) gain insight into the
possible answers and expertise in the selection process. The Open Call
thus also has a social function and helps to strengthen the culture of
architecture.
THE OPEN CALL AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR ARCHITECTURE CULTURE
239

COLOPHON
Celebrating Public Architecture. Buildings
from the Open Call in Flanders 2000–21 is
co-published by ovis Verlag, Team Vlaams
Bouwmeester and the Flanders Architecture
Institute.
Editor: FLORIAN HEILMEYER
Editing team of the Flemish Government
Architect: ANNE MALLIET,
CATEAU ROBBERECHTS,
PIETER DEGRENDELE
Cover photo: STIJN BOLLAERT, Theaterplein
in Antwerp (p. 122) by STUDIO ASSOCIATO
BERNARDO SECCHI PAOLA VIGANÒ in
collaboration with DIRK JASPAERT/BAS
Translations: JESSICA GLANZ (German to
English), PATRICK LENNON (Dutch to English)
Copy editing: MELISSA LARNER
Design and setting: FLOYD E. SCHULZE
Lithography: BILD1DRUCK
Printed in the European Union
The editor would like to thank especially all the
architecture, engineering, urbanism and
landscaping offices involved, who have
generously provided so many extra information,
drawings and images for this book.
© 2021 by ovis Verlag GmbH
Texts by kind permission of the authors.
Pictures by kind permission of the
photographers/architects/holders of the
picture rights.
All rights reserved.
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