Positioned on the side and certainly not willing to interfere in Rubens’ famous lines of sight, the new reception building for the Rubenshuis - the house, studio and garden of artist Peter Paul Rubens - is a discrete extension to this historical site. Besides the reception function, it also contains a multimedia experience centre, a museum café, a reading room and the library collection of the Rubenianum, known as the world’s most extensive... Read more

In order to arrive at a thoughtful strategy that proves itself to be sustainable and intelligent in the long term, a master plan vision for the entire building block was first developed. The proposition of a new wing offers the opportunity to better organise the entire site, to relieve pressure from the interior block and to complement old and new in a targeted way. The ambition was therefore to increase the quality of the 'building as a whole'... Read more

For the redevelopment of the Boerentoren in Antwerp, the central question was how this tower - which previously served mainly as an office building - could optimally exude culture in the future and house the patrimony of The Phoebus Foundation. Robbrecht en Daem's design was built around the democratic idea of making art as accessible as possible. To make art and 'life' coexist.Encounters with art are far from obvious. On the completely open and... Read more

Xavier Hufkens – a leading contemporary art gallery in Europe – reopened its Sint-Jorisstraat gallery in Brussels in the summer of 2022, following a spatial reformulation of the existing flagship gallery with an important new extension by Robbrecht en Daem architecten. The project holds a special connection to the building’s history: thirty years ago, Robbrecht en Daem – in collaboration with Marie-José Van Hee architecten –... Read more

Situated at the head of Spoor Noord, the hospital is a hinge between the park, the docks and the city, and thus benefits from each of their qualities. The limited surface area of the site requires the hospital to be organised vertically. The hospital structure has a clearly discernible layered construction. All outpatient activities with consultation rooms, centres of knowledge and medical technical services are in the lowest section. The various... Read more

This corner building houses an exhibition and event space for Katoen Natie, combined with residential units above. The project is situated adjacent to the company headquarters. The headquarters - which consists of several former port warehouses - was previously renovated by Robbrecht en Daem architecten. The new project visually relates to it as a sort of continuation of the earlier work. The choice of a concrete façade and an aligned cornice... Read more

On the banks of the channel running through Brussels, this layered project combines a gymnasium, 16m high indoor & outdoor climbing facilities , a multipurpose sports hall and padel fields on top. The aim of the design is to inscribe itself in the specific context and thus increase the cohesion of the canal area, strengthen its identity and give extra quality to the public and open spaces. A public balcony, a kiosk, a viewpoint and cafétaria... Read more

Clad in a crystalline skin of structured glass and brass-coloured anodized aluminium frames, this park building is embedded in the variable topography of its site, with each side responding to a different context. Whereas the long facade addresses the longitude of the park and the frontality of the ‘Ereperk der Gefusilleerden’, a military cemetery for both World Wars, the northern volume anchors the building in the urban fabric... Read more

Park Abbey is a 12th-century heritage site that is undergoing a complete restoration by Studio Roma. For the design of the circulation within the abbey's eastern (and primarily public) wing, Studio Roma called on Robbrecht en Daem architecten. Within this design, two tower volumes with a pentagonal footprint were chosen as circulation cores. The larger tower in exposed concrete is part of the museum route, and the smaller tower in steel serves as... Read more

‘No space, architecturally, is a space unless it has natural light.’ - Louis Kahn On a site on the Garenmarkt, next to the Groeningemuseum, a new exhibition hall will be erected by the end of 2024 that will house two museum spaces and opens out onto a new park. The exhibition areas will be constructed at a raised level and will be separated from each other by a public passageway (Scala Grande), so that an open, transparent and freely... Read more

The new Cera building positions itself carefully within the medieval core of Leuven, opposite the side entrance of the historic town hall and close to the Grote Markt. It constitutes the true ‘heart of the city’. Originally the site consisted of a complex conglomerate of buildings with the Hôtel d'Eynatten from 1760, a neo-Gothic wing from 1917 and a corner building in sober reconstruction architecture from 1948. In order to free up space in... Read more

With the Bozar Café, Robbrecht en Daem architecten aimed to create a world in all modesty, a kind of microcosm or universe. To give the visitor an experience. A returning aspect in the interiors of the café, the book shop and the box office are the 'circles' - like the form of chandeliers and mirrors - that generate a 'kind of planetarium with sunsets and sunrises'. The choice of materials, such as the dark green granite and leather benches,... Read more

The extension of the Royal College of Art at Battersea is a piece of art infrastructure. Free ‘platforms’ for creation allow current and future flexibility. As a terraced extension of the street an additional collective space – ‘the Stoa’, encourages interaction between staff, students and researchers. The hybrid nature of its design makes it the focal emblematic space the whole RCA community can associate with – a new identity... Read more

The reconstruction of the Zuidboulevard in Waregem ensures a thorough renovation of the city. The Zuidboulevard is the new gateway to the city and connects the cultural centre De Schakel, the city hall and the new library with each other. Instead of being a cul-de-sac, this renewed boulevard is a turning point, a climax for the previously interrupted loop for shopping, walking and cycling. This transforms the site into an easily navigable place... Read more

The foldable ‘Ta Tisch Table’ was originally designed for the architects’ travelling exhibition Pacing through Architecture (2012). Made for laying out the drawings, sketches and photographs of their projects, these pieces were constructed in birch plywood measuring 112cm by 303cm, resting on two elegant legs in the same material, which can be folded flat on hinges under the desk. The furniture touches the floor on two linear surfaces; the... Read more

The Halles aux Farines, situated on the right bank of the Garonne, was built along with the construction of the first railway lines and is centrally situated amidst a network of tracks. The former warehouse has been transformed into the municipal archives of Bordeaux, and forms the first link with the future eco-district of Bastide-Niel. The industrial history of the site acquires a new interpretation: the storerooms, where the archive boxes are... Read more

Mobile radio studio that was designed for the radio programme Pompidou and set up in various places in Brussels during the Klara Festival of 2014. The studio consists of four triptychs, a table and a projection standard. Due to the flexibility of the screens, the intimacy of the space and the program is determined. The design is supposed to stimulate a conversation that happens between a few people but can be heard by thousands who do not know... Read more

On top of a polished concrete base raised slightly off the ground, a light, gleaming, green-painted steel construction unfolds to form a shelter to protect delicate works of art. The diagonal lines of passage through this new pavilion interweave Middelheim Park with the Hortifloria Garden, a recent extension of this well-known Antwerp sculpture park. Four vertical recesses provide the entrances to the pavilion, divide the space into four and... Read more

In the redevelopment of the city centre, the restored relationship with the River Lys forms the starting point. The presence of the Lys generates an enormous quality for the city: the watercourse is the bearer of urban identity. The course of the river defines the structure of the city centre. Contact with the Lys is made possible by the construction of a mooring quay, a promenade and a square in front of the Church, located on the bend of the... Read more

The Zwin plain is a border-crossing natural reserve located at the North Sea Coast. Robbrecht en Daem architecten were invited for an Open Competition to provide this natural reserve with new visitors’ facilities. The proposed visitor center comprised of a ticket office, museum shop, auditorium, restaurant, exhibition pavilion and observation pavilions, alongside viewing platforms, vehicle parking and a farm for the maintenance of the estate... Read more

Making a Masterplan for the City Zoo of Antwerp. This included a multitude of housing for animals, a central children’s pavilion, visitors facilities, an office building, an entrance square, a restaurant and a shop.... Read more

In the best museums and galleries one finds one's way through a series of rooms, where the artefacts are carefully lit and set off by calm backgrounds. A degree of repetition helps navigation, some variation helps orientation.The proposals for the Whitechapel Art Gallery are bold in their restraint (someone commented: 'where’s the architecture?') and seize a simple but powerful opportunity: lower and upper floors are configured as circuits of... Read more

The High Views are two observation towers along a cycling route between Lincoln and Boston, 60 km apart. They mark a place to rest on the banks of the River Witham where one can look out over a landscape that is very varied in its use. The design of the towers is in part based on the churches of the two towns. The meandering vault of Lincoln Cathedral inspired the observation tower in Boston. The stubby parish church of Boston gave rise to the... Read more

The conservation project for the Book Tower aims at restoring the historical site of the University Library, situated in the lively quartier Latin of Ghent, meanwhile at transforming it into a library for the 21st Century. The design unites the ambitions of the University to respectfully repair the monumental site to its original condition, but also to render it a contemporary house for a great diversity of users and for the valuable own... Read more

A dairy at the foot of the historical castle of Gaasbeek has been converted into accommodation for musicians, with a chamber music hall. The late nineteenth-century front building was transformed into the accommodation; the hall replaces the original small factory shed but adheres to its original outline. The volume is dug deep into a slope into which an open ramp has been cut which then bends over the hall and climbs upwards like a ziggurat and... Read more

A complex but recognisable setting is composed of a church, a vicarage, a glebe, a brick silo, a brewery, and above all a set of large trees. In short, an idyllic and typical Flemish landscape that somehow predates the Second World War neither touched nor spoiled. In all its aristocratic allure, the 18th-century vicarage exudes a forgotten past that poses a real challenge to all things new. The humble garden walls form a dominant role in the... Read more

Rubens Square is a triangular square with a large opening towards the sea. Two long benches oriented parallel to the water are bordered by a wall of tempered glass which acts as protection from the wind. It is a particularly social place where elderly people often watch children play. The square’s tiles have a mosaic-like pattern with maritime tones that refer to the nearby sea. Blues, grey-greens and whites are interwoven like an abstract... Read more

The Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam is a complex amalgam of sections all built at different times. The extension by Robbrecht en Daem makes the museum into a single entity again. Green-tinted glass sheets introduce a rhythm into the façade that looks austere and elegant, but its layering also gives a hint of the complexity of the building. Inside, there is a striking link between Adrianus Van der Steur’s 1935 brick building and the... Read more

The ‘Ligeti bench’, which was designed for the foyers of the Concert Hall in Bruges (1999– 2002), ranks as one of the most empathically coloured designs of Robbrecht en Daem. This piece derived from the idea of introducing lightness as a contrast to the rigid concrete interiors of the building. A low, deep bench was designed and painted in stripes, with a colour composition inspired by the precisely conceived Farbenklavier of Le Corbusier.... Read more

On ‘t Zand, an open urban space near the station in Bruges, Robbrecht and Daem built a concert hall for Bruges when it was the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2002. Alongside the Halletoren, the Church of Our Lady and St Salvator’s Cathedral, this ‘Concertgebouw’ has become a landmark when driving into the city. A uniform external cladding in terracotta tiles hangs like dignified drapery over the volumes of the concert hall, fly tower and... Read more

The nineteenth-century, rather dark mansion with a narrow, long city garden in the center was transformed into a contemporary light-filled residence with a pharmacy. Above the renovated pharmacy and between the volumes of the main building, a patio gives a view of the tower of the 18th-century baroque church through wall-high windows, while a skylight brings daylight into the pharmacy workspace. The patio is like a heart between the various... Read more

The building trade and the social situation in the early years of our practice were such that the majority of our commissions consisted of interventions to existing buildings or spatial redesigns of building complexes. In this way we contributed to the sum total of the building activity which - in an on-going interrelationship of action and reception produced a considerable material output at that time. We perceive that totality as primary matter... Read more

A penthouse was built on top of an industrial building with an art nouveau facade. This glass pavilion forms a still-life on the roof together with the technical installations enclosed inside a grating, and Isa Genzken’s work of art Camera. The frame of the work of art emphasises the role the flat plays as an observatory overlooking the town.... Read more