OMGEVING

OMGEVING, together with Stefano Boeri Architetti, submitted a draft proposal for the Striga 4 tower in the sustainable new city district Nieuw Zuid in Antwerp. The design is a variant of the well-known typology of high-rise buildings. It is an urban tower with a rational structure embraced by a “body” that enters into a dialogue with its environment. In the proposed design, the interior space constantly aims to expand outward. A series of balconies and loggias constitutes a generous ‘middle ground’ and tries to fade the boundary between the inside and the outside.

The draft proposal consists of a smart application of variation in the building shape and envelope. The building does not strive to present itself as a unique and isolated high-rise element within the urban fabric, but as a pivot in a series of urban changes. A balance has been sought between the formal rigidity of a rectangular plan and the heterogeneity of a porous body, the rigor of flat surfaces, and the playful variations that arise by sliding the pixels in the desired composition.