Antwerp design team for Loodswezensite
The Loodswezensite is part of the Scheldt quays master plan. The project area borders the Scheldt in the west and the Tavernier and Van Meterenkaai in the east. In the north and south it connects to the other sub-areas of the Scheldt quays.
“The new monument of names is an important externalization of the strengthening of our commemoration policy. Taking into account the natural situation of the depictions of the various victim groups, we have now opted for a timeless design that is embedded in the quay fabric in a way. This monument of names connects the Scheldt and the city and invites future generations of Antwerp residents to reflect on the deceased stories of the darkest pages in our city’s history,” says Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever.
At the end of 2020, AG Vespa started looking for a multidisciplinary design team with talent in landscape, public domain, flood defence, archaeology, heritage, ecology, architecture and art. The design brief for the area around the Loodswezen consists of two important parts: the redevelopment of the public domain as provided for in the Scheldt Quays master plan with integration of the raised flood defense wall and the realization of an ambitious monument to commemorate the Antwerp documents of WWII. The design team led by Bureau Bas Smets managed to surprise with a clear design in response to these questions and with respect for the historical value of the site. The team consists of Bureau Bas Smets from Gijs Van Vaerenbergh bvba, Atelier Ruimtelijk Advies bv, Steenmeijer Architecten bvba, Antea Belgium nv, UTIL cv, Endeavor nvdr cvba and Plant en Houtgoed bvba.
“With a wonderful heritage that refers to the rich history of the Antwerp port and as a hinge point between the Scheldt, the city center and the Eilandje, the Loodswezensite is a beauty,” says alderman for urban development Annick De Ridder.
“The judging went smoothly and pleasantly, quickly we were able to reach a unanimous decision. Not obvious for a project of this scale with many. The assessment committee consisted of experts from various knowledge domains: in addition to the landscape of the city and AG Vespa, there were also representatives from the art world, De Vlaamse Waterweg, the scientific advisory council WWII and an expert in the public domain. Christian Rapp.
Gardens
In the winning design, the quay is greened as a park with various gardens and the former vliets (Brouwersvliet, Sint-Pietersvliet and Koolvliet) are visually redeveloped as a connection between city and stream. The names monument are described on both sides of the former rivers. On the city side, the vliet gardens form the ‘entrance’ to the project area, each with its own identity. Various zones are visible in the design along these vliet gardens: a zone with pocket parks around the Loodswezengebouw and the Boeienloods, a zone with a large stairway and a zone with a sunbathing area. The wet side, the floodable part, the quay along the Scheldt, forms an uninterrupted walk from north to south along the Blauwe Steen.
The zone with pocket parks around the Loodswezengebouw and the Boeienloods distinguishes itself from the rest of the quays due to its heritage value and the strong relationship with the water. A retaining wall with stairs to protect the Loodswezen monument against the water level. On the city side there will be a sloping, walled city garden that connects to the city. The Boeienloods will be part of the flood defence, in a subtle way and with respect for the heritage.
The zone with the ‘Scheldt steps’, a staircase, can be used as a place to sit and rest, but can also occasionally be used for smaller events of ceremonies.
With a view of the Scheldt, the zone with sunbathing area is unique and longing. Also from the Scheldt, the design is clearly visible with a lower area with an extensive lawn and a higher landscape with high greenery.
“In later years we completed work from the quay wall to the quay wall on the flood defense and the layout of the quay plain. The design team is not only carrying out the ambitious redevelopment of the public domain of this site with excellent execution, but it is also thoughtfully dealing with the increased flood defenses of the Scheldt quays in the context of the Sigma Plan”, says the managing director. of De Vlaamse Waterweg nv Chris Danckaerts.
plants
The design also has an outspoken and clear climate ambition. For example, cool places are created and a lot of attention is paid to the plants. The types of planting are attuned to the individuality of the place, so that the planting varies according to the zone. They will be different in the wetter vliet gardens than in the pocket parks or in the raised sunbathing area. The design also pays attention to intelligent water management with, for example, wadis in the Vliettuinen with water-loving plants.
Monument of names
The design competition also included the ambitious monument of names commemorating the deceased Antwerp stories of the Second World War. The memorial includes an inclusive list of names, divided into the four different victim groups: the victims of the holocaust, the groups of Nazi violence, the groups of military violence and the military. These names will make the different numbers and reflect the differences of the different types of groups. The team around Bureau Bas Smets took the vliet walls as the basis for the design of the monument.
For example, three large connections are made where the water used to flow. There will be maximum connection with the quays via these corridors. The three vliets are perpendicular to the Scheldt quays and form the various sub-zones from which the flood defenses will be erected: the pocket parks, the Scheldt steps and the sunbathing area. Where the flood defense is not realized by fixed structures, such as in the vliet structures, mobile retaining walls will be used. The vliets, which used to draw the water in the historic city for trade, thus become the basis for the future emerging city, which are developing for the future emerging waters for more greenery and recreation on the Scheldt quays. The memory of the city is thus restored, restored and renewed.
The names monument will have six memorial walls between three memorial gardens. The six linear walls that flow onto the site of the previous ones are the perfect place for the monument to names. The vliet walls are used as an identity carrier to both spatially strengthen the relationship between the city and the Scheldt, and to symbolically commemorate the war victims. The memorial walls along the rivers mark three more intimate memorial gardens. These memorial gardens reflect mutual agreements and generations together and thus stimulate their use as a small-scale meeting space and quiet place on the quay.
The memorial walls are designed as an expression of both the individuality of each victim and the collectivity of the victim groups. The name of each victim is engraved on a separate stone to reflect the individuality of each afflicted. The different stones are placed per victim group along the vliet walls. The large number of individual stones, and so, will be impressive and will help to understand the drama of the Second World War.
The idea is to use a type of material according to the number of decades the victim has lived. Thus it becomes clear how many people of each age became. There is also a relationship between the different groups.
In total, the memorial stones will be 336 m long and consist of more than 25,000 memorial stones. The City of Antwerp is currently conducting an extensive historical investigation to determine the names of these 25,000 deceased.
“The elevation of the Scheldt quays raises the question of how the city center can maintain contact with the water above this high retaining wall. The Loodswezen site, between the Noorderterras and the Bonapartesluis, used a unique location on the Scheldt where three inland ports used to pull the boats into the city. The historical trajectories of these ‘vliets’ are still visible in the underlying street pattern and serve as starting points for the design. This is exactly where we will connect the city with the Scheldt. The raised retaining wall is incorporated in three park figures that are stretched between the rivers: an enclosed garden on the Loodswezen, a spacious Scheldt staircase as an amphitheater and a generous sunbathing lawn with a view of the stream,” says designer Bas Smets.