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This year, the living idea award of the province of Antwerp - WOAW - awards the proposal ‘Hotel Goordijk’ by young architects Felix Verheyden and Lucas D'haen. The project addresses the problematic situation of truck drivers along the truck parking lots in the port of Antwerp and offers a practical solution to their accommodation needs.
Truck drivers who work long days transporting goods often do not have a suitable place to rest. The Goordijk car park, the second-largest truck park in the port of Antwerp, is one of the few places where drivers can stop, but the facilities there are inadequate. Many drivers sleep in their cabs, in violation of European legislation. This creates unsafe and unhealthy situations.
The research proposal ‘Hotel Goordijk’ offers a possible solution by designing an overnight hotel that complies with legislation and takes into account the specific needs of drivers. The hotel is not just a place to sleep, but also provides space for social interaction and relaxation, allowing drivers to relax physically and mentally.
Glenn Lyppens, housing policy adviser and jury member: “This project leans into the provincial policy which states that quality housing should be there for everyone. So also for truck drivers, who have to live temporarily while moving but where the conditions in which this happens are often anything but qualitative. By linking socio-cultural research to an urban analysis of the Goordijk car park on the border between harbour and city, this proposal makes this blind spot in housing policy visible. Moreover, it allows to examine how circular building can be concretely applied here. These insights are also relevant for other locations with similar challenges.”
“With WOAW, we support young designers who offer fresh ideas for housing challenges for which there are too few answers today,” says provincial commissioner for Housing Jinnih Beels. “’Hotel Goordijk’ shows exactly why WOAW is needed: it brings a blind spot into focus and offers a realistic solution for a group that is often forgotten.As a province, we need to help fuel such innovative concepts, because they enrich our housing policy and lead to concrete improvements on the ground.”
The laureates will receive a starting budget of 7,000 euros and one year of guidance by housing experts from the province of Antwerp. During this process, Felix Verheyden and Lucas D'haen will further develop their design in order to present it to a broad public afterwards.
