Architect: 360 architects
Client: VME Staff Quarter
Advisors: Venac (acoustics), Sweco (stability, techniques), Egeon (EPB, safety coordination) Location: Antwerp
Timing: 2010 - 2018
Status: realized
Project Support I Collaboration
Technical renovation and restoration advice
Renovation and restoration of the monumental building Generale Staf in 't Groen Kwartier in Berchem. The building will be given a completely new interpretation: it will be partly residential, partly office, partly hotel. 't Groen Kwartier is the former Military Hospital in Antwerp, which in recent years has gradually been transformed into a residential area.
History
The General Staff used to take care of officers and housed the staff of the Military Hospital. Abundant decoration such as floral motifs and dormers and volume play with bay windows, turrets and stepped gables make the building a combination of neo-Flemish Renaissance and neo-Baroque.
Use
The AG VESPA office is located in the central aisle of the building. It is a contemporary working environment with contemporary architecture, in a historic building. NV Kloosterkwartier is the owner of Kop West. It accommodates 10 rooms of the hotel which will be realized in the nearby monastery.
Restoration
Because the building is a monument, the owners work together with Monumentenzorg Vlaanderen. What could be preserved at the General Staff, has been preserved. What needs to be replaced will be replaced according to the original model and in the original materials. The facade and roof have been restored in the original materials and there is new exterior joinery in oak after the original model. The volume of the building has remained the same.
Bureau Bouwtechniek
Bureau Bouwtechniek has been appointed restoration architect. BB is responsible for the details and the file of the subsidised posts and monitors the yard with regard to the restorative part.
Team BB: arch. Bert Van den Bergh