Antwerp Tomorrow

City Hall Antwerp

Antwerp, Grote Markt

from 03/12/2022

Expo urban development at a new location

A few years ago, the urban development pavilion at the base of the MAS disappeared. I wrote a blog post about it and regularly walked in with groups. It was the ideal starting point for an architecture tour in the district ‘Het Eilandje’. Fortunately, there is a new exhibition about urban development in Antwerp and in a beautiful place: the ground floor of the town hall.

Interesting: it is open every day from 9am to 6pm! The expo visualizes the historic growth of the city. In addition, urban planning from the 1970s to the present is discussed, with an extensive focus on the many residential projects, public buildings, parks and squares that have been realized in recent years.

Het Eilandje

I’ll start with the model I know best: that of the northern district ‘Het Eilandje’. This model has been adapted several times with new buildings and new places (Droogdokkenpark, Schengenplein,…) and gives a nice overview of this part of the city.

In addition, there are also many models of recent projects, such as the ‘Gedempte Zuiderdokken’ and the Military Hospital. Be sure to take a look in the narrow corridor where the history of the city is explained with some books available for reading.

Large digital table with Antwerp projects

The eye-catcher of the exhibition: a large digital table where you can view more than hundred projects in Antwerp. You can also indicate a part and see what the street plan looked like from 1600 to now. The digital plan was also present in the old pavilion, but against a wall. It was interesting then that the port was also indicated above the plan, an added value that could no longer be realized here due to its placement in the middle of the exhibition hall.

Model of the town hall (and temporary exhibition)

Fortunately, the model of the town hall also moved. You can see the showpiece when you walk in through the doors on the Suikerrui. It is 1m70 wide and is 3D printed. Stereolithography was used for the different parts. This method works with liquid resin that is sensitive to light. A laser beam hardens the resin in the pattern of the model and the machine builds the model layer by layer. With this technique, attention can be paid to details, just note the wood patterns on the inner walls of the town hall. There’s also light. To explain this technique, you can find a video below.

If you would like to know more about the restoration of the town hall, you can find a (temporary) exhibition on the other side of the stairwell on the ground floor.