FE Auction House
Support
Veljko Dinic
Exercise
An auction house in Antwerp
This design assignment is about building in a high-quality existing context and will take place in Antwerp. When Baron Cogels Osy sold his land in Antwerpen-Zurenborg in 1884 to establish a new residential area for the wealthy bourgeoisie, he made it a condition that it be filled with quality town planning and architecture. It has become a spectacular example of eclecticism at the beginning of the last century. Although the city wanted to scrap everything in the 1970s, today it is the most popular neighborhood in Antwerp. A single plot of land has never been filled in and has remained undeveloped, we will take a look at that. In this design task, we want to design an auction house here. In the tradition of Christie's and Sotheby's where logistics go hand in hand with (re)presentation. Although internet auctions are of course on the rise, a modest program of 1500-2000m2 with auction rooms, showrooms, conservation and storage areas to display, evaluate and preserve the items to be auctioned on the viewing days is desirable. We discuss in detail the spatial development and spatial quality of the publicly accessible building and the design of the facade(s) in this inspiring historical environment. We cannot simply look for a functional solution here without asking which architecture is appropriate in this context. What is the designer's reaction here?