Summary
The architects firm has designed an innovative shopping mall near Antwerp for Redevco, a part of the Cofra-holding, one of the largest European real-estate investment companies.
The project stands out from traditional ‘box-shaped’ shopping premises on shopping boulevards through the original architecture, the positioning strategy for the site and the attention paid to ecology and the environment. The project refers to the shopping boulevards in Paris or the shopping arcades in the medieval centre of Bologna by providing green landscaping, calm footpaths and protective arcades.
Variety in the volumes, heights and materials create an interesting relief for the whole and the buildings are visually linked to each other through a spacious awning that covers the promenade around the building. Two buildings will be added to the basic L-shaped layout to form a U-shaped complex around a large green ‘patio parking’.
Special attention was paid to ecological aspects such as high insulation, rational water management and solar energy.
Three ‘sun trackers’ on the parking area convert the sun’s rays into energy. Tilting on their high masts they are already ‘landmarks’ of this innovative project, visible from afar.