LITERATURE HOTEL

Competition for the restoration, furnishing and extension of the Hotel Dumont in Antwerp, in collaboration with OUEST

Year ︎︎︎ 2018
Phase ︎︎︎ Competition
Surface ︎︎︎ 1875 m²
Budget ︎︎︎ € 1,9m

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The Hotel Dumont, a huge neo-Gothic city palace near the city park of Antwerp, will be the new home of the “Fonds der Letteren”. This organization deals with the various activities related to the promotion and dissemination of Dutch literature and poetry. In addition to the historic palace, the site also includes a series of rather obscure rear buildings, followed by a fallow space and a terraced house on the other side of the building block. The design of the project is primarily urban, taking advantage of the special opportunities offered by the site. A “suite“of gardens and passageways, the 'Street of Letters', creates an open passage from Lange Leemstraat to Van Noortstraat, open to visitors and casual passers-by. The original volume of Hotel Dumont is liberated from additions and furnished as the offices of the FDL. The ground floor will be opened up as much as possible and will function as a whole of reception and project spaces under the gothic arches. In the middle of the building block, the public functions (library, auditorium, café) will be housed in a series of radial spaces around a central patio. Finally, the terraced house will be arranged as a series of studios for writers and translators in residence, above a passageway to the street. Some subtle interventions to the (protected) façade invite passers-by to explore the 'street', like the seductive cover of a book.


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