Giuseppe Farris talks about Park Tower, one of the highest buildings in Antwerp

Giuseppe Farris of Studio Farris Architects will be a speaker at this year’s RIFF International Architecture expo conferences in Bucharest (October 31 – November 1), Warsaw (October 10 – 11) and Budapest (November 22), where he’ll talk about Park Tower in Antwerp, Belgium, a 78-metre tall building of strikingly bright white, a beacon for the entire district that it was built in.

The project is integrated into the strategic development project that is aimed to transform the northern quarters of Antwerp and will play a connecting role between parts of the city that have been remodeled earlier. With a total height of 78 meters, the Park Tower is now one of the highest buildings in Antwerp and therefore plays an important role in reshaping its skyline. Located along one of Antwerp’s most important roads, the tower acts as a gateway when entering the city.

The tower is a vertical reflection of a classic urban street: from the ground floor which has a commercial function the tower literally stacks up to host different habitation styles in the 20 higher stories. The tower comprises 360 habitation units. The first 10 floors are made up of 160 studios and 80 student rooms. This way the project offers an answer to the growing need for comfortable living space for single-person households, students, young couples and expats. On the next 10 floors we find 115 habitation units with 1 or 2 bedrooms and elderly care facilities.

Each studio or apartment has a private terrace. To be able to use these terraces in a comfortable way, a particular wind protection concept was conceived by the architects. The effectiveness of this concept was then calculated and approved at the Technical University of Eindhoven. The glass panels are randomly placed, in order to reduce the wind discomfort to an absolute minimum, even at high altitude. This allowed to develop a playful, layered façade with a fascinating dynamic of constantly changing light and shadow. The double façade also protects privacy and reduces vertigo.

Studio Farris Architects is an architectural practice based in Antwerp, Belgium and founded by Italian architect Giuseppe Farris in 2008. The studio’s goal is to discover the intrinsic potential in every project, questioning the obvious, exploring the surroundings and cultural heritage. This always while looking for harmony between sustainability and innovation, functionality and experience, ratio and feeling. The building’s users play a fundamental role in the conception of the architecture.

Studio Farris Architects has been awarded as one of the 10 firms in the 2015 Design Vanguard. Architectural Record’s annual Design Vanguard issue spotlights architects doing some of the most innovative work in the field who will lead the profession in the future. They are the firms at the forefront of design, led by architects to watch. Park Tower project was shortlisted for the WAF Awards 2015 and out of the of entries from over 100 countries for the Architizer A+ Award, Studio Farris is the winner in the Residential: Multi Unit Housing – High Rise (16+ Floors) category.