How can industrial infrastructure be transformed and reused to create a contemporary urban building that combines living and working spaces? This was the theme at the heart of the 2023 edition of the design studio ‘The Contemporary Palazzo’, supervised by Floris De Bruyn (Gafpa) and Jan Baes (AE) at the Faculty of Architecture of KU Leuven, Sint-Lucas Campus in Ghent.

In concrete terms, the master’s students in the design studio were asked to work on the Mexico Island site, north of Antwerp. This former port area is characterised by abandoned industrial hangars and warehouses. To prevent families with children from leaving the city centre, Antwerp wants to transform the industrial wasteland into new residential neighbourhoods.