For me, designing is always twinned with uncertainty. Uncertainty as to choosing and making decisions. Uncertainty about my own knowledge and insight.

The project was based on a competition held by the City of Antwerp. Its brief sought to bring together three quite distinct museums on Eilandje, a part of the Antwerp harbour that was ripe for renewal. The three collections involved were those of the Maritime Museum, the Museum of Folklore and the Vleeshuis.

My design seeks to bring some sort of balance to the conflicts of interests attendant on a building of such size and stature.

The existing shed was retained and copied, giving not one but two identical museums. The new one was displaced and turned on its side. Together with the on-site ruins of the 18th-century Hanzahuis and the remains of the existing shed the new museum is inventorying not only the various collections but its own past as well.

An inquiry into the form the new museum was to take, brought me to the spatial principle that permits parallel worlds to interlace by one's movements through the structure. The folded construction causes the visitor to keep skipping one level. It is possible to go through all the individual programme components in succession in a single uninterrupted movement.

The building was organized round a public interior street. This zone for pedestrians and cyclists makes the connection between the city centre and the dockland area as well as serving as an entrance hall.

The new structure gives shape to the wishes of the city, its visitors and its citizens. It seeks to make space for a variegated reading, space for discovery.

Place of education: AvB Tilburg
Specialization: architectuur
Tutors: Pnina Avidar, Martien Jansen, Wim Cuyvers & Arjen Oosterman