Drawn to the Corner
Positioning an Architecture Archive as the Next Figure within DeSingel Art Campus, Clustering the CVAa and VAi
S. Windrich (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
S. Pietsch – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
Sereh Mandias – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
E. Karanastasi – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
H.D. Ploeger – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Urban Data Science)
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Abstract
Following the failed competition for an architecture archive in the Sint-Hubertus church, this year’s graduation studio of Interiors Buildings Cities focused on developing a proposal for its integration within the DeSingel Art Campus in the south of Antwerp.
'Drawn to the Corner' positions the DeSingel Art Campus not as a singular building, but as a city-like constellation of institution-specific 'corner figures.' Each figure anchors both the identity of its respective institution and its relationship to the collective campus. By understanding DeSingel as an accumulation of such figures, the proposal introduces 'the next' — an architecture archive housing the CVAa and the VAi — as a new institutional presence within this sequence.
This new corner figure is located at a threshold where the campus meets the urban fabric of its surroundings. Here, the building’s orientation shifts, enabling it to act as both a defining edge for the campus and a civic landmark. This dual role provides the architecture archive with a singular public identity while simultaneously strengthening the identity of the DeSingel Art Campus within the city.
Complementing the corner figure, the project proposes targeted rearrangements within the campus. A currently underutilized corridor is transformed into a new central foyer, creating a shared meeting ground for all institutions. This intervention recentralizes the collective courtyard — the field around which the campus physically revolves — and reinforces the value of existing shared facilities.
The architecture archive is both its own and part of the DeSingel Art Campus. Its expression — distinct from, yet in dialogue with, the other corner figures — reflects the ever-evolving spirit of contemporary architecture. Together, these figures form a living exhibition of architectural identities, individually specific yet forming a composite presence deeply rooted in the history of Flemish culture and architecture.