Design firm: VAK Architecten
Project name: Loods Mesodrome/The Lab
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Size: 450 sqm

The new Mesodrome research hall, designed by VAK architecten for the University of Antwerp, transforms a lab-storage space for scientific equipment into a meaningful architectural statement. As the designers explain, the building is rooted in that “fetish for the perfect square” that has run through architectural history—from Palladian villas to modern masters such as Ungers and Rossi. The unconditioned volume, which can nevertheless be secured for safety reasons, is defined by a square plan measuring approximately 18 by 18 meters. A строг structural grid punctuates the façades and supports the pitched roof modules. A raw, essential language of industrial elements—from perforated metal gates to exposed systems—reveals the building’s pragmatic character, softened by playful accents of primary colors (vaguely reminiscent of De Stijl?) in the yellow drainage pipes, designed to carefully collect and reuse water, and in the red panels.