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 Architect Zaha Hadid's Antwerp Port House, officially opened
this week, integrates modern design with the city's history as a
pioneer global trading hub and diamond center. Made of 2,000
triangular glass panels, it cost 55 million euros ($62 million).
During construction, some Antwerpers saw a ship or a diamond
emerging from the brick-built old dockside fire station upon
which the Iraqi-born Briton, who died in March, built the new
structure, said Antwerp Port Authority CEO Eddy Bruyninckx.
“Leave it to the imagination of people,” said Bruyninckx, whose
staff will work in the new building overlooking the Scheldt
estuary.
“Be it a diamond, be it a ship, we are happy to live in it.”
The port authority chose a spot between the port and city center
for its new headquarters, where 500 employees will work. Ranked
second in Europe behind the neighboring Dutch Rhine Delta city
of Rotterdam, the Belgian port is growing fast.
Just months before completion, Hadid died suddenly at 65. The
Port House adds to her legacy of eye-catching buildings around
the world, including the Guangzhou Opera House in China and the
London Aquatics Centre built for the 2012 Olympics.
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Project manager Joris Pauwels said Hadid was adamant about
preserving the fire station. The original square building did not
have a main facade, so the architects decided to layer the addition
on top of the structure to avoid obscuring the front.
Concrete pillars and 900 tonnes of steel hold the glass workspace
above the fire station, Pauwels said. A bridge level joins the two
structures and gives employees a 360-degree view of the port and
public square below.
After her death, the city council amended its street plan to rename
it Zaha Hadidplein or Zaha Hadid Square.
(Additional reporting by Hortense de Roffignac; Editing by Alastair
Macdonald and Ralph Boulton)
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