Along the Leien in Antwerp, Hub Architects, in collaboration with Bureau Bouwtechniek and interior architects Atelier Dialect, transformed a 1970s office building into the headquarters of the autonomous municipal body Stedelijk Onderwijs Antwerpen. The regular, robust concrete structure forms the backbone of the project, which fully embodies the concept of The New Way of Working.

Commissioned by AG Vespa, Hub designed the headquarters of the autonomous municipal company Stedelijk Onderwijs Antwerpen. The brief was to create an open-plan space where administrative staff, policy officers and teachers could work together. The building is situated on the Leien, the nineteenth-century urban boulevard that marks a significant urban expansion and forms a representative axis within the city. Project architect David Jacobs and Hub partner Koen Drossaert explain that the new façade reflects the layered history of the Leien. Despite its unusual height, the building had to fit into the existing urban fabric. The façade was clad in anodised aluminium – an echo of the beige natural stone frequently found on the Leien.