Remarkable images transform Antwerp Airport into a gigantic water park: “It can also be done differently” | Antwerp
DOORNEAntwerp Airport may continue to exist until at least 2040 and increase the number of flight movements. The Flemish government decided on the date last weekmet again opposition from citizens and neighboring municipalities result. But the airport’s current permit expires in 2024 and landscape architect Maarten Bral has his own plans for the valuable piece of land on the outskirts of the city: “Mechelen has De Nekker, Sint-Niklaas has De Ster, where is the Antwerp recreation park? ”
A large recreational water park as large as the Rivierenhof near Antwerp, designed to fit sports facilities, playgrounds, water sports, a large lake for swimming with beach areas, a large forest and a pedestrian boulevard.
Too little green
It concerns the ‘Blue Haven’ design by landscape architect Maarten Bral of bureau Landschaap. “I understand that the citizens’ platform Vliegerplein would rather lose that airport than rich and that the local residents are looking for concrete ideas for a different interpretation,” explains Bral. “I don’t want to get involved in the legal and political battle around Antwerp Airport, but I do see that there is far too little green space in and around a city with half a million inhabitants.”
(use the slider to view the current airport and the new design)
“And certainly little too green for recreation”, probably the architect. “Ghent has the water sports course and the Blaarmeersen, Sint-Niklaas, Wachtebeke, Mechelen and Mol have their sports and recreation domains De Ster, Puyenbroeck, De Nekker and Zilvermeer. Where in Antwerp can you still go swimming in the open air? What is the city waiting for?”
Swimming in the docks?
Maarten Bral, with his landscape agency Landschaap, is not his first when it comes to utopian changes in the cityscape. In 2018 he came up with the idea for his ‘MAS-plage’ transform the docks at the MAS into outdoor swimming pools. Meanwhile, there is also at the city a plan to give docks a more recreational character.
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Bral has already drawn up plans to convert them into swimming pools for the dry docks at Kattendijkdok and cultural hotspot Stormkop, but concrete actions have not yet followed from this. More recently he designed a dream image of how the Turnhoutsebaan in Borgerhout could be perceived therewith much more space for dead road users, greenery and even water.
(use the slider to view the current airport and the new design)
Legal battle
“Whether my Blue Haven plan isn’t useless if the government has just decided to keep the airport open until 2040? Maybe, I just want to show how it can be done”, Bral continues. “During a meeting with mobility minister Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) about the Turnhoutsebaan, the local residents were able to assure her that the lane should be more than a single approach road to the city, right? Perhaps the citizens’ movement Vliegerplein can also influence what happens to the airport?”
Vliegerplein itself has wanted a park instead of an airport for years. Last week, local residents were still very much aware that not one, but two lawsuits are pending at Antwerp Airport. One for whether or not to extend the environmental permit in 2024, and one for whether or not the runway has been extended illegally, which is currently before the Court of Appeal.
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