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

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

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

Robbrecht en Daem architecten, together with Osar architects, has won the design competition for the Jessa Hospital in Hasselt, Belgium. The design is driven by a renewed search for the human scale of the hospital. In this search a contradictory question arises: how can a hospital with an immense surface area (135,000 m2) achieve the necessary small scale and humanity through its architecture? The response is not to put 'the patient' at its... Read more

The open landscape of the IJzerbroeken, which surrounds the site of the Knokkebrug, inspires passers-by to dream of a higher outlook from which to view the area. The realisation of a watchtower on this spot is an excellent opportunity to expose the strength of the site. The Friendly Tower is a strong, autonomous, pentagonal figure that provides insight from a height into the historical, geometric figures of the environment, to which the... 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

De Drie Leeuwen is a project in Vilvoorde consisting of three residential buildings, of which the first phase, a 14 story tower of 70 appartments, has been completed. The project creates a valuable infill at the corner where the Medialaan and Tweeleeuwenweg meet. The completed building is part renovation, part new build whereby the existing apartment block is extended on one side to create a T-shaped plan. A lively facade of balconies on the new... Read more

The shopping centre at Sint-Janspoort is a more sustainable counterpart to the large shopping centres on the outskirts of towns and cities and covers a whole block in the historical city centre of Kortrijk. With its interiorised street pattern and monumental atrium – the garden of light – this shopping centre forms a diagonal link between Steenpoort and Veemarkt. The tower closes off one end of the Romeinselaan. The volumetry of the block,... 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