On the Eilandje in Antwerp, Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architects (KSA) created a campus for various technical and art courses in secondary education. The project connects a new building with a listed school building (1921-1927) by city architect Emiel van Averbeke and the harbour warehouses (1920-1940) by the same architect, which were built in three phases and are also listed as monuments. With Campus Cadix, KSA created a contemporary school environment with a layered history.

“The main reason we were able to realise this design is that we flouted the urban planning regulations,” explains Mechthild Stuhlmacher. In developing the master plan, KSA deviated from the RUP (Regional Urban Plan). The architects interwove the requested programmes. By cutting the specified closed building volume into four and rotating the parts by a quarter turn, the school gained the necessary building depth and views of the water were realised. In order to create cohesion between the three different buildings, the architects approached the complex school environment as a campus. Stuhlmacher takes us on a chronological walk, from Van Averbeke’s original school building through the sheds to the new building.