Why They Had to Build OVER This Old Building

this is antwerp's Port House a truly Unforgettable building that could actually be the solution to one of the massive dilemmas facing Europe today you see the continent cities have a problem more people than ever are moving from the countryside into urban areas in fact by 2050 more than 83 percent of Europe's entire population will be living in cities and that's putting serious pressure on space Europe's major Urban centers are already built and they have been for quite some time so how would you expand a place that's already full of buildings well we're starting to see some clever ideas but this one in particular really has risen Up Above the Rest this the incredible story of a star architect's final Masterpiece of a gravity-defying feat of engineering and of how a 1500 year old city is facing up to its 21st century destiny [Music] foreign [Music] Belgium 290 million tons of international Freights pass through here every 12 months generating more than 12 billion euros for the country it's the second largest port on the continents and it accounts for more than 26 of all Europe's containers shipping from here ships go out to more than 800 cities worldwide over the last few decades antelope's become one of our planet's fastest growing container ports back in 2010 a 1.6 billion Euro 15-year investment plan was approved to keep up the shipping demands and modernize the 12 kilometers of docks that stretch through the city the Port Authority desperately needed additional facilities and at the very top of its list was new office space for a mere 500 employees a massive building by any measure this would be the port house but to call it office space really isn't doing it justice antwerp's enormous success had allowed the city to build something truly bold and ostentatious a symbol of all the ports has achieved and when you think bold and ostentatious you think zaha Hadid Dame zahari designed buildings that could look as fluid as mercury while appearing as light as a leaf I think she has added an enormous amount of language to architectures she's she's Divine shapes that we never thought that we could do there was an obsession with historicism a vernacular so the idea of new was almost alien the architecture Studio then headed by the famous starchitects while an international competition to design the site but there was already something there a then derelict but Heritage protected Firehouse from the 1920s it couldn't be demolished all the facades were important and there wasn't room to build around it so Hadid thought outside the box well up and above the box to be precise her team envisions an enormous office building sitting on top of the fire station like some kind of Bejeweled hat my name is yoris bowels um I am associate director at The Architects I was responsible for the design and construction of the and Report house on the Arctic side for us this this juxtaposition between the existing building and the new building is really working you know handing glove as you you know together they form they operate as one building and they they kind of reinforce the identity of each other to stop the structure from crushing the firehouse below two enormous concrete columns were designed to support it the poor house would then sit on top of those two new Lakes crouching over the existing Firehouse but not touching it in fact the only intersection between the old and new would be an Elevator Shaft collecting the two very different eras one of these legs is hidden inside the courtyard of the building while the other stands just outside but both are plainly visible to the port houses inhabitants with the outer column becoming a dramatic feature instead of concealing the ingenious engineering behind the building Hadid and her team have included it in the designs so that we can all Marvel at these enormous columns supporting such an immense weight challenge lies in the in the structural design so underneath there is a there is a connection between the two pylons in the ground the foundation beam that connects them and the bridge which which sits between new and old building it forms the connection in the air that creates the ring that closes the ring if you like the structural ring so that ring is really the golden egg to make this structure work once the legs were in place the main building was assembled on top of them this consisted of a complex steel structure made of prefabricated trusses they were brought to the site by barge then lifted into place on top of the legs in sections one by one before being welded together these steel trusses ensured the porthouse was light enough to be supported by the columns and hover over the firehouse below next came the Rippling facade made up of hundreds of glass triangles it's intended to evoke the waves of the surrounding sea that made Antwerp so wealthy and the diamond industry the city is famous for we wanted to express the static Dignity of the existing building and counter by contrasting that with with the volume above that is very Dynamic fluid that has this ephemeral quality of reflecting the sky through its glazed panels [Music] now as you can probably imagine this was an immensely complicated construction project not only were they building more than 6 000 square meters of new office space in the air above an existing building they were also restoring an historically significant structure at the same time Heritage projects like the Port House Force teams to use both decades old and brand new building plans and the cities continues run out of space these kinds of projects are likely going to become a lot more common that means a lot of documents data and information to keep track of and if teams aren't ready for it they could be dealing with a mess of different databases applications and spreadsheets that's where quick base comes in its software helps teams across different disciplines work together by sharing data without having to Wade through scattered spreadsheets there are a lot of moving pieces on a large construction site especially with the subcontractors and there's always communication gaps there that's a huge challenge that would face on a daily basis well with quick boost you really gain end-to-end visibility you can see connect and control the complex construction project that the general contractor is working on and then you can see those roadblocks early on building projects are only going to get more complicated with construction teams splits across many factions and in the recession Workforce shortages and continued supply chain delays and you've got a serious Challenge on your hands historical Renovations are are a unique challenge all their own in construction industry you have uh specific subcontractors you may have to use based on Historical Society you have safety checklists that may or may not be uh suitable from a normal operation to historical operator operation those checklists can be modified in quick base it's software like this that's enabling teams to achieve the remarkable and the Port House certainly is remarkable when it opened back in 2016 it became an almost instant icon ladies and gentlemen I sincerely hope that after you have visited our new home This Magnificent and Brilliant Diamond ship you will be as enthusiastic and as proud as I am 2016 was also the year that zahadeed passed away never seeing the Building completed to this day it remains one of her most significant pieces of work and an important part of a legacy that shaped architecture for the 21st century I think people were a bit uh kind of were not not entirely sure of what is this Beast of a project was going to be why when Once the building got under construction and the overall reaction is very positive as far as you know from from taxi drivers to the client but while it's been wholly embraced by the architecture and construction communities some have criticized its imposing form and interiors that they describe as an afterthought for an office building the space inside isn't exactly as functional as it could be it's a structure whose primary concern appears to be how good it looks on the outside but in all honesty when it looks this good maybe it's okay to be a little vain often with with existing buildings and Heritage buildings the first attitude or the instinctive attitude is to respect as much possible do very extremely minimalistic intervention and that can be beautiful and work very well at times that has a view on this building was layering of the city or built environment is a kind of continuous process where where things are added and that's very much how we approached our approach to design support House shows us that it's okay to not just restore historical buildings exactly as they were but to play with them to bring them into the modern world this building is now an icon tours are booked out month in advance and it's become a symbol of antiperp's power as a poor City the project has perfectly Blended two very different architectural Styles not by hiding their differences but by highlighting their contrasts this video was made possible by quick base you can learn more about how it's enabling historic restoration projects like this at the link below there's also the chance to dive deeper on this and the other topics on our Channel over on the world's best construction podcast available right now wherever you get your podcasts and as always if you enjoyed this video and you want to get more from the definitive video channel for construction make sure you're subscribed to the b1m [Music]

Channel: The B1M

Views: 706,423

Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, zaha Hadid, Port House, Quickbase, Antwerp, Belgium, heritage, design, diamond ship

Id: 2woqSzstIZM

Length: 11min 3sec (663 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 15 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/Vantaa]

One of my favorite buildings in Belgium.

[u/trbt555]

Thanks for posting. One of my favorite buildings in Belgium, a true masterpiece of engineering and architecture.