St-Felix Warehouse, Antwerp, Belgium

The Antwerp City Archives are housed in the 20.000 m2 Sint-Felix Warehouse, an icon of historical harbour architecture in Antwerp. The project involved the construction of concrete containers on the upper six storeys, for the conservation of documents from the city’s archives. On the top floor, a new oak roof structure accommodates reading and study rooms around three large, well-lit light wells. Access from the city is via a semi-public internal street, which opens up at the ground floor, allowing the introduction of a series of commercial spaces. These were provided as shell and core spaces, allowing them to be subsequently fitted out by commercial franchisees. The addition of these spaces, allows the archives to become experienced as part of the wider commercial infrastructure of the city and give the public an opportunity to enjoy its robust, industrial architecture.
Client
City of Antwerp
Architects
Robbrecht en Daem architecten
Program
renovation and transformation of a historical warehouse into city archives
Location
Antwerp, Belgium
Date
1999–2006
Status
Completed
Floor Area
24.000 m2
Team
Paul Robbrecht, Hilde Daem, Caroline Vanbiervliet, Frank De Baere, Katrien Cammers, Shin Hagiwara, Johannes Robbrecht, Tinne Verwerft, Wouter Willems
Execution Architect
Grontmij Vlaanderen
Project Manager
Grontmij Vlaanderen
Structural Engineering
Grontmij Vlaanderen
Services Engineering
Grontmij Vlaanderen