Atelier Kempe Thill

In 2016, Atelier Kempe Thill won the European competition for the transformation and extension of the new arts campus of the Karel de Grote Hogeschool in Antwerp, Belgium. The new university building on Van Schoonbekestraat provides space for 600 students and staff for three academic master’s courses in the visual arts (graphic design, jewelry design / goldsmithery, and autonomous arts) and a professional bachelor’s degree in photography.

The existing nursing school, established in the 1950s, was transformed according to the needs of the new arts campus and partially demolished. On the east side of the complex, a new flexible studio house was realized. In this building, there is space for large studios, modern workshops, and a university exhibition hall. In the middle wing, all partitions and partly supporting structures were demolished and made suitable for accommodating the medium-sized program with studios and the auditorium. On the ground floor of the street wing, large spaces were created to house the media library and an exhibition space.