Through an open call was inquired for a strategic vision for the development of a new administrative center for Heist-op-den-berg. Social- and municipal services are currently scattered throughout the city, often located in historical heritage buildings. Daily this leads to many unnecessary kilometers, an inefficient use of space, and a lack of clarity for visitors. The question is, how clustering these spread out services, will give a new impulse to the city of Heist, and how the vacated plots and properties can help generate funding for the realization of the new administrative center.

The current social service office located on the Stationsstraat is the preferred location for the new cluster. This however, has as a consequence that the municipality building on ‘Den berg’ will become vacant. Therefore the proposed vision proposes two scenario’s. In the scenario 1 the administrative center will be built on the Stationsstraat and an alternative program is proposed for ‘Den berg’. The second scenario proposes the opposite. The services are moved to ‘Den berg’, guaranteeing that the historical heart of the city will stay in functional use with public functions. Besides these visions for the development of these locations, attention is paid to the city structure, an alternative circulation plan is proposed, as well as a parking strategy and alternative street profiles strengthening the main axis of the city.

Status: Competition 2019
Team: Johan de Wachter, Joris van Arkel, Marco Moretto, Patricia Mata
Collaboration: PosadMaxwan
Location: Municipality Heist-op-den-berg
Program: Heist-op-den-berg, Antwerpen, BE