WoonComplex

2017 - 2018

Camera obscura picture of the power plants, romanticizing them.

Camera obscura picture of a green landscape.

The village of Doel will be dense again, following the vision developed in collaboration with the different teams of the studio of Doelland (macro-meso-micro).

As part of the MESO team, we analyzed the village of Doel and its neighboring urban cores and proposed a future vision on how to revitalize the area:

"The village of Doel embodies its history, by highlighting its scarred past. New housing will be interwoven with the existing buildings, which will be renovated or repurposed. A village within a village is created.

With a view to the future, the aim is to create an S-31 neighborhood and new ecological buildings will compensate for the energy consumption of the old ones. The street plan will be extended according to its typical grid, with two prominent axes centrally through the village. Doel could provide a home again for some 2,000 residents. People who have a link to the area will return to live there: original inhabitants who will give it a chance to return, as well as people who live in Doel and work in Antwerp or vice versa. Above all, one wants to welcome nature and culture lovers who can observe the area in a mobile way. One can use an adapted means of transport in the layered area according to the experience. The dikes are intensified for weak road users, the flat environment can be explored by tractor and finally the ferry symbolizes again the movement on water. The village is made car-free by using the parking lots of the repurposed nuclear power plant and the three existing parking lots in the village. The streets will also become one-way streets to avoid chaos.

Doel will be reasonably self-sufficient in relation to the village's carrying capacity. It will allow farmers to produce unique products for the local area that can be used for various purposes. Local products are sold at the market at the harbor, used to build homes or shipped through the harbor. The boundary between nature, agriculture and industry creates a potential for cooperation in the area."

Underneath are maps created during this first part of the design studio.

mapping of functions

mapping of possibilities

The renovation of old houses and the building of new ones will secure the arrival of new life in the town. In this context a new housing project was proposed.

The video underneath explains the design of the WoonComplex (in Dutch).

Elevations in the Camermanstraat.

Elevation at the Liefkenshoekstraat.

The WoonComplex is part of the renovation-revolution. It exists of three existing houses that will be renovated.
Density is created within the three volumes with the use of divers housing types such as family house, apartments and studios.
The Complex combines living and working with the presence of a bar and a bike repair shop. These retail functions will play a role in the restarting of the local economy. The courtyard (with reference to the surrounding farms) is the heart of the Complex, it is the place where living and working meet.