Groepswoningen Nieuw Zuid

Over the next 10 years, the Nieuw Zuid district in Antwerp is set to become a compact but high-quality urban expansion development based on the master plan drawn up by Secchi Vigano. The Winter Garden Homes project is one of the first realizations of this urban expansion and the first housing project managed by Atelier Kempe Thill in Belgium. The project comprises a mixture of 36 large and small residences and a contemporary art gallery, which is located on the ground floor. The flexible building typology facilitates compact urban housing with exceptionally large outdoor spaces in the shape of winter gardens on the west and east sides of the building. Despite the open character of the floor plan and façade, this layering provides a high level of privacy for residents. It creates a kind of filtered urban appeal. The apartments seem like oases, giving residents a 'suburban holiday feel within an urban environment', as the architects describe it.

This text is based on the architects’ project details and the essay by Luce Beeckmans, which was published in Flanders Architectural Review N°14. When Attitudes Take Form.