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.
Kalverpad
The Kalverpad is free of cars and offers plenty of space for sports, games and recreation. Older children can play adventurously in the various wetland play areas. The existing trees have been integrated into the design as much as possible and, along with the new trees, they attract insects, butterflies and birds. For the adults, the Kalverpad includes a large space for community gardening.
Kalverwei
The Kalverwei is the neighborhood's green neighborhood park. The hill on Slachthuislaan dampens traffic noise. Several landscaped play and sports areas are concentrated in the central park section, so that there is sufficient free-to-use park space available for recreation and meeting.
Hall Square
This square is also car-free and offers an alternating paved and green open space for staying, playing and sports for all ages. The center area consists of alternating small tree squares with grassy meadows with trees in between.
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Hall Garden
The Hall Garden is a tranquil water garden and an oasis of peace in the neighborhood. The garden is full of special (water) plants through which walkways run. This water garden is a play area for young children with seating areas for parents and study areas for college students.
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Long Lobroek Street
The street will be greened to the maximum extent possible. The green, raised verge with perennials, shrubs and trees is provided with shaded seating areas that invite to meet.
Lobroekplein
Lobroekplein is the living room of the neighborhood. The intimate square is lined by trees and hosts neighborhood events and markets. The square is home to the play fountain and basketball court on Dam Road. The square offers plenty of seating options for young and old. Cafes and restaurants with terraces surround the square, which overlooks the event area.
