Commissioned by AG Vespa, Triple Living and Aquafin, together with Sweco Belgium, LOLA landscape architects and Buiting Advies, we designed a green public space. This space connects the new and existing parts of the neighborhood and is filled with green play, sports and meeting spaces. The inhabitants of Antwerp have been involved in the design through a participation process as an initiative of the city together with AG VESPA.
Compacting and greening
The number of residents of the Slaughterhouse District will increase in the coming years. The construction of nearly four acres of green public space will allow residents to experience 'real nature' in their neighborhood on a daily basis. The neighborhood green space will be connected to surrounding green areas as much as possible, making the neighborhood a habitat for birds, butterflies and bees. The abundance of green also makes for pleasant living by reducing heat stress, wind and noise. Moreover, all the greenery also simply makes for a beautiful living environment.
Water management
In addition to all the greenery, water is an important part of the new design. The water study shows what is needed to sustainably collect, reuse and soak up rainwater in and around the neighborhood. In this, the water playground in the Kalverpad and the water garden in the Hall Garden are of great importance.
Pedestrian central
The new Slachthuis district is car-free, with slow traffic taking center stage. An intricate network of pedestrian and bicycle paths has been designed with plenty of opportunities for encounters. The Dam Route connects all play, sports and recreational areas in the neighborhood and is enriched with art objects.
Consultation with market parties
In order to involve the various residents, an extensive participation process on the public space took place from August 2020 to the end of 2022, with online surveys, activities for children and their parents, neighborhood walks with the design team, focus discussions with young people, the local hospitality industry and harder-to-reach residents in the neighborhood, a working workshop and dialogue market. About 600 residents and stakeholders participated a total of 731 times, including 208 children.
Characterful subspaces
The strength of the Slaughterhouse District is the diversity of characterful subspaces. These are elaborated in more detail in the preliminary design and are explained further below.