With the new year, the construction of two projects will also start. The first phase of De Tuinen, the development of a mixed project with 100 homes and commercial spaces, commissioned by Van Roey Vastgoed, will start in Puurs. In Turnhout, we are building 42 social homes on the Nieuwe Erven site with social housing cooperation De Ark.

BULK wishes you happy holidays and a cheerful and inspiring new year!

Our offices will be closed from Friday 23 December 2022.
We will be available again from 9 January 2023.

photo Stany Dederen - Technische Dienst Blankenberge - 2007

The Cadix A5 housing project has been nominated for the RES Awards in the category Residential. Before the ceremony on the 16th of February 2023, a professional and independent jury composed of top real estate professionals and architects, will vote for a winner in each category. A collaboration with Bovenbouw architectuur en Sergison Bates architects.

Great news! We are happy to announce our team has won the Open Call competition for the new DDS - the Flemish intermunicipal partnership in the Dender-Durme-Schelde region - headquarters in Dendermonde. The result of a close collaboration between BULK and Studio Jan Vermeulen.

A jury of experts and representatives of DDS and Team Vlaams Bouwmeester appointed our team as the preferred bid from an international selection of 33 candidates.

The project provides a strong image and an open framework to DDS’s renewed operations in which informal exchanges, research and innovation are key. 

The building will play a pioneering role in what we call the ‘new working landscape’. As a generous shell, the project can accommodate many uses over time. In doing so, we take an ambitious position on sustainable building and circular construction principles. Fabricated from waste that is collected locally by sister organisation, the proposed façade cladding in bio-based materials was acknowledged by the jury as “a valued and promising innovation”.

Many thanks to all in our team, BAS Dirk Jaspaert - IRS Studiebureau - Cluster Landscape - Bureau Bouwtechniek - Bureau De Fonseca.

Docomomo Belgium is organizing a series lectures on The Arenawijk of Renaat Braem. 

The structural condition of Braem’s built patrimony is highly problematic today, as a result of which the social housing company Woonhaven decides to transfer the most valuable and characteristic homes in the southern periphery to AG Vespa, who will renovate them for the private market in the form of a collective housing project. The least qualitative and most dilapidated parts will be replaced, mainly at the northern edge. Despite a far-reaching densification campaign, the winning proposal by BULK, WIT, KARUUR and CLUSTER focuses on significant softening and qualitative public space, with substantially more space for water and greenery and a large park. Koen Van Bockstal will give an online lecture ‘The new masterplan of the Arenawijk’.

‘The Arenawijk of Renaat Braem past, present and future story’ (EN)
Wednesday 30th of November 2022, 20h00, online via Zoom

Publication Cadix A5 in werk, bauen + wohnen 11-2022. Article about how the project by Bovenbouw, BULK and Sergison Bates could be a role model in both urban planning and architecture.

Flanders Architectural Review N°15. Alliances with the Real brings together a rich selection of much-discussed recent projects that offer a surprising response to these challenges. Ten essays and two photo series critically reflect upon and hold up a mirror to the architectural field. Alliances with the Real calls for social engagement and social entrepreneurship from all who contribute to the (un)built environment. With projects Cadix A5 and Stapelplein.

Fondation Culture du bâti Suisse publishes a series of notebooks with the theme of a high-quality building culture. They were developed on the basis of the presentations and discussions at the 'Building Culture and the City' symposium at ETH Zurich in 2021, and subsequently consolidated by the Foundation Board.

In this publication, the foundation presents five propositions for a high-quality building culture that it has drawn up. Research 'Pilot Project Living: New Forms of Collectivity' by BULK, Research cel Stadsontwerp University of Antwerp, Collectief Noord, and CLUSTER is cited as an example of densification strategy.

At the end of October, a delegation of 25 architects and urban planners from the association L'ardepa (l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Nantes) visited Antwerp for a study trip of several days. Eric Henrist gave a tour of the Cadix district with a visit to Grootstadsblok A5.

'How to invest more in the reuse of buildings, circularity and future-proof/adaptable construction?' Winvorm is organizing a series of lectures that focus on robust and future-proof construction. Koen Van Bockstal will give a lecture for the Winvorm participants on Tuesday 11/10/22 and will present the research 'Bouwmeester Label -CONSTRUCT' in relation to cases from the design practice of BULK architects.