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Antwerp Courthouse

Antwerp Courthouse

 



Construction of the new Courthouse in Antwerp is the result of a policy to modernize Belgium´s judicial institution. The judicial services were particularly cramped in different buildings scattered around the city.

The Flemish region thus decided in 1999 to organize an international architectural competition for the building of the new courthouse.

The winning team, Richard Rogers Partnership in association with the offices of VK studio and Ove Arup, proposed a subtle, efficient, transparent and powerfully symbolic building.

The building has a floor area of 78 000 m² and, among other things, responds with its orientation and maximum use of ventilation and natural light under harsh and durable development constraints.

The building, located in Place Bolivar, on the one hand completes the perspective of the main boulevards of Antwerp (`Leien´) and, on the other hand, opens out onto a large green area broken up by access roads to the motorways. One of these roads passes underneath the building before opening into the boulevard opposite, thus freeing up the square for pedestrians and public transport.

The 'pas perdus' room, all in glass, not only links the 6 wings that join it, but also provides an urban link between the square and the park, in the extension of the boulevard.

Each wing comprises six floors, including a basement. The first three levels up are occupied by offices, the fourth is a technical floor and the top level is used to house the different courtrooms, covered with roofing that evokes the sails of a boat.

The sail-roofs are the architectural centre point of the project. The design, materials and construction methods of these roofs have undergone in-depth studies. For example, wind tunnel studies were needed to determine the most unfavourable wind loads.

Each of the 32 roofing modules is formed by four prefabricated quarters which are assembled by bolting them together on site. The geometric form defined by these roofing quarters is a hyperbolic paraboloid. This trimmed surface helps simplify the elements of the structure and manufacturing.

Laminated wooden beams adhered together and arranged on a weft according to the correct cone distance from the surface are mounted on a frame of steel tubes. Three crossed layers of planks are then screwed on successively in order to form the hull.

The final roof covering is done by 316L 2B coloured strips of stainless steel, assembled using the transverse joints technique.

Several specific constraints have led the designers to choose this material: its natural durability, especially on a site exposed to coastal conditions; the possibility of welding; the geometry with variable and locally ineffective slopes, difficulties of access for maintenance and, of course, its aspect and colour. To ensure perfect tightness, the stainless steel sheets are subject to continuous welding using an automatic machine, thus forming an almost monolithic surface.

Text: Silvia Navas