Cadiz

Eilandje in Antwerp, Belgium, is no longer the decaying harbour district it once was. Thanks to various grand architectural buildings and the redesign of streets, squares and quays, the neighbourhood is now "the place to be" in Antwerp. The mixed-use Cadiz building complex by POLO Architects and META architectuurbureau also characterises the appearance of the Cadix district. A total of four towers rise up as landmarks and are connected to each other via the continuous ground floor, which is only interrupted by an inner courtyard, and the first two floors.

In the 26-hectare Cadix district in the north of Antwerp, a large-scale urban development plan has been implemented on behalf of the city on an area of around 200,000 square metres, focusing on sustainability and the settlement of young families.

One of the building planned for the neighbourhood is the "Cadiz" apartment complex located on the east quay of the Kattendijkdok. Cadiz was built as a mixed-use building on the site of the former customs office building in the Cadix district. The new development is a spacious block with more than 40,000 square metres of living space, a health centre, restaurants and shops.

From the street, the view embraces the communal inner garden, landscaped with birch trees and woodland vegetation, above the underground car park. From a distance, Cadiz offers a different and more monumental impression. Four towers are set back from the building line and rise high up on the roof of the plinth. Inspired by the existing warehouses on Eilandje, the architects chose masonry and prefabricated concrete elements as the dominant materials for the building block.

Cadiz combines different types of residential units: Flats, luxury semi-detached houses, studios and social housing: All units in the towers benefit from characteristic, asymmetrically designed exposed concrete balconies on all four sides. These are arranged in an offset position to ensure optimal sunlight.

The white, asymmetrical balconies were prefabricated and installed on site. The structural thermal separation was realised with different types of Schöck Isokorb® - with the optimum connection type for this special concrete-concrete connection for the different balcony geometries.