OFFICE 247

The Tim Van Laere Gallery of contemporary art occupies a strategic position in the new neighbour- hood created by an ambitious urban redevelopment plan for a part of Antwerp sandwiched between a highway and the River Scheldt. Surrounded by large residential and office buildings, its struc- ture is revealed at a glance in its staggered silhouette: a concatenation of rooms, or pure types of buildings – storage space, offices, white cube, chapel, patio – each with a particular size and proportions adapted to different ways of experiencing art. The rooms are constructed as simple in-situ concrete boxes, each made specific by infills of wooden structural elements. Aside from their dimensions, the rooms are differentiated by their roof structure. All are internally isolated and lit from above: skylight systems made of differently shaped laminated timber elements give each space its own unique lighting conditions. As a central part of the new neighbourhood, the building aims to stimulate its environment with its urban ambition. With its gates opening directly onto the street, it relates to both its immediate context and its content. Art, its central focal point, is made visible and accessible to all.