Walter Brusseleers, the founder of ELD partnership designed the Ahlers House and the Atlantic House Office buildings on the edge of Antwerp harbour, during the mid 1970’s.
Faced with a chronique shortage of parking space, Banimmo Real Estate, the current owner of the Atlantic House
building, asked ELD partnership to design an extension to the existing underground parking floor.
ELD proposed to add a parking building on top of the existing underground car park. Because of the limited load
bearing capacity of the existing concrete structure, ELD‘s structural engineers proposed an ingenious four storey
lightweight steel structure, adding more than 200 new parking spaces.
The new parking building of which the architectural design features nautical references to the nearby harbour was
recently inaugurated. Banimmo subsequently asked ELD to produce ideas for a low cost face-lift for the facade of
Atlantic House.
ELD submitted several design studies from which Banimmo chose the painting of the façade as a random patchwork.
The painting system, the preparation of the surface to be painted and the painting itself has been carefully specified
to resist the harbour environment. Work will be complete by the end of 2004.