our ladys cathedral
tower-motel in antwerp
do ideas!
2010
This project is an intervention reconsidering the void left by the right tower of Our Lady’s cathedral of Antwerp. The right tower remained unaccomplished due to financial problems of the Church, contrarily to the left one, financed by the province of Antwerp.
Every day several Japanese and American tourists visit the cathedral. Curiously enough, they don’t come for its architectural particularity. For them, the Cathedral is the central scene of a Dog of Flanders by Marie-Louise de la Ramée. This tiny book, nobody in Flanders knows about, is a classic in the UK and the USA and has inspired numerous films and TV series in Japan and the USA. Taking advantage of this pop tourism we ironically proposed a cliché image reflecting Belgium, the waffle, for a lucrative aim, a motel. This external concrete skin accommodates a meditation space, recreated on the left tower’s counter-form.
waffle(en) / waffuru (ja)
the story
books sold in a year per country
belgian symbol per country
2 different piggy banks= 2 different towers
the void / meditation space
view from suikerrui street
night view