Engineering the new DPG Media headquarters Antwerp

The new De Persgroep Media headquarters is an iconic building on the former Kievitplein ( now Mediaplein), close to the Antwerp Central Station.
This winning competition project aims to create a new vibe for the complete station environment.

The sculptural expression of the building functions as a joint between the existing buildings and the already developing urban environment.

The new DPG office building wants to create an open and flexible working environment that is nicely embedded in the residential neighbourhood and communicates with the new Mediaplein.  The building offers a generous public ground floor and mezzanine in which a restaurant, coffee corners and diverse multimedia popups are located, showing the 24/7 economy of DPG Media.

The facades are conceived all-round, which renders every facade equally worthy. The materialization of the building is based on sustainable and contemporary materials that express the international character of De Persgroep. The different office floors are organised around a central core holding all the vertical circulation and support functions, making the office plateau’s extremely free and flexible.

The technical ambitions and the goal to make the office floors very flexible have lead to the choice of constructing the floor slabs without any beams.  The grid has a large span. From a technical point of view, the coordination of all building services and the BMS capabilities was specifically designed to guarantee this flexible use.

eld was responsible for both structural and building services engineering for this project.