Antwerp Courthouse

Name: Antwerp Courthouse / New Palace of Justice

Address: Bolivarplaats 20

Architect: Richard Rogers

Build: 2001 - 2005

Height: 41,0m / 135ft



New Palace of Justice at the BolivarPlaats.

The Anglo-Italian architect is Richard Rogers, the same one that developed the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The roof is the architectural idea of waves (or a series of sails). The complex has 5 floors and 36 hearing rooms.

It is made mainly out of glass (a symbolic significance, as a metaphor of justice that is transparent to citizens) and steel. It is built to the standards of energy conservation and environmental sustainability.

This building is not yet finished and we are not sure how we feel about it. But we did start calling it the ‘omgekeerde frietzakken’ - twisted fries bag! Fries are a national dish in Belgium – so no problem there … but I do sometimes wonder what Mr. Rogers thinks about it. Other names for it are Butterfly Palace, Vlinderpaleis, Nieuw Justitiepaleis.

I guess we will have to get used to this futuristic structure…

Return from Antwerp courthouse to Southern walk