Next week will see the start of “Paris aw 09-10 in 30 ideas”, mirroring what has already been done for Antwerp and Brussels last summer. Hopefully London will come next. There’s no shortage of wannabe secret Paris guides advising readers on everything from shopping spots to restaurants to the best baguettes… It is becoming a bit tedious – shoot me if I mention Ladurée, I promise that this blog will take you to uncharted territory and that it will offer a more grassroots perspective on the city.

If you read French this interview with Roland Castro was published in Le Monde last week. He’s a leading architect and his vision for the Greater Paris Area in 30 years is really challenging. He proposes to depart from the modernist, functional planning that has defined Paris for too long – leading to a growing divide between a historic centre and a sprawling suburb – to rethink the city as a 12-million metropolis with many pulsating hearts. In short, the end of Baudelaire’s romantic Paris or at least its dissolution. I know, it’s all a bit highbrow but you’ll get it next week: don’t be surprised if the blog takes you outside of the périphérique or if it explores the legacy of French Communist urban planning. You’ve been warned!

The spectacular conversion of former horsestables into the Hospital concept store establishes this corner of Zuid as the new frontier for upscale fashion. Located opposite Clinic (more casual), Hospital features a classic Mercedes convertible in the middle of its space, a wine cellar by a leading sommelier and a bar terrace fronting De Burburestraat. Even by Antwerp’s high-fashion standards, there is something extravagant about this space (in a good industrial chic way) but in contrast to other stores Hospital extends its menswear and womenswear collection beyond the statutory Antwerp labels: Alexander Mc Queen, Viktor and Rolf, Marc Jacobs, etc… What’s striking is how friendly Hopsital is, in line with the urban deluxe feel of the multibrand collection. The stoicism of its chiseled team is admirable: we ran part of our photo shoot there (and it took a bit longer than planned) but they didn’t bat an eyelash when the entire Turnleft circus rearranged the furniture and almost broke a mannequin… Some of the outbuildings will be converted into a 3-room bed & breakfast at some point next year – we will keep you posted!

Hospital De Burburestraat 4

We are now addressing the biggest Dutch-Flemish controversy since the Scheldt dredging boycott: who buit the first European skyscraper? According to our panel of architecture experts, Rotterdam may have brought the concept to the continent but Antwerp’s Boerentoren (now the KBC Tower) was Europe’s first residential high-rise: it was built in 1932, after the 1930 Antwerp Universal Exhibition and just before Rotterdam’s Parklaan building (1933).

We’re clearly Team Antwerp on this one, even if Parklaan’s spectacular glass-fronted apartments remain the ultimate residential fantasy. In contrast the Boerentoren is now just an office block. It is a beautiful building though, with Empire State proportions and Zaal Jacob round the corner for a good night out. But in fairness to Centrepoint and Tour Montparnasse, could we call it a mid-rise building (it is only 97m high)?

It’s slightly off the beaten track but the Cogels Osylei-Waterloostraat-Transvaalstraat triangle in Zurenborg is really a mind-blowing display of eclectic architecture, including many Art Nouveau buildings. Not so far, closer to Middelheim Park, Maison Guiette on Populierenlaan is the only house in Belgium designed by Le Corbusier. The house is owned by fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester.

This reminds me of the interview we did with David Flamée, who does the Press & PR for MoMu Fashion Museum and who also runs Sketch, the creative PR agency of the grassroots Antwerp’s fashion ecosystem – he seems to be a big fan of this part of town:

“I’ve been living in Antwerp since 2001 and it’s like a city and a village. Of course it’s all about fashion. I very much enjoyed this year’s shows and the experimental approach of the different designers that graduated. This is a very creative city – one thing that is so great here is that young designers [at the Academy] are pushed to develop their own style and vision. Summer’s great in Antwerp: on a sunny day I like having a picnin in Middelheim Park, an open-air museum with about 200 sculptures and art pieces; in the evening I’ll have a walk through Cogels Osylei and dinner at Euterpia, my favourite restaurant. The neighbourhood has mainly belle époque houses in a variety of architectural styles. It is a very romantic area. I’m not the clubbing type but if I’m not in bed at 3am you’ll probably find me at Frituur Number One! [eds: we love it too - see previous post]”

Euterpia Generaal Capiaumontstraat 2

Schipperskwartier – Sailor District – is a polite way of describing what has been the godmother of all redlight districts in the godmother of all harbour cities. The area has been sanitised and it would be of limited interest – and not something worth glorifying – if it wasn’t for the fact that it is now home to the world’s most high-tech brothel and that this den of (heterosexual) vice is the brainchild of conceptual artists Quinze & Milan, who fitted out the entire building.

The history of the building is quite extraordinary and typical of the puritan-liberal ways that define that part of Europe. Developer Franky De Coninck had only intended to turn a former meatpacking warehouse into chichi loft apartments but the sanitation of Antwerp’s prostitution areas forced him to accommodate the public authority’s request to create 50 showrooms on the premises – to the highest standards. Building plans had to be altered, the warehouse was torn down (some period features remain), the inner patio was added to maximise street frontage, and Villa Tinto was born although residential flats were still built on the second and third floors… Flats took a while to sell but they must have been a good investment because the area is now becoming the city’s trendiest, with the smart docks of ‘t Eilandje 2 blocks away and many galleries and restaurants opening on every street corner.

A highlight of Quinze & Milan’s work is the metallic-fronted penthouse floor (and its spectacular roof terrace), now the proud possession of a plastic surgeon – who keeps 2 bedrooms for Villa T, probably the city’s most intriguing bed & breakfast (and of course this is where we relocated our HQ during the Antwerp making-of).

We got hold of a few images of the new Port Authority HQ, designed by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and scheduled for completion in 2013. The glass & aluminium structure, a tribute to Antwerp’s links to the diamond trade (and already nicknamed the Rough Diamond) will sit on top of a disused fire station and seal the status of ‘t Eilandje as Antwerp’s happening hub. The project is not just a vain cave-in to starchitecture: harbour logistics are increasingly sophisticated and by consolidating all operations under one roof, local and regional authorities seek to sustain Antwerp’s status as a world trade powerhouse.

Cycling around ‘t Eilandje is the best way to witness the refurbishment of crumbling warehouses, new architectural developments (Westkaai Towers by British architect David Chipperfield) and the emergence of a new residential district in Antwerp.

Something more visual for today but quite impressive. The Beijing Olympics made all of us familiar with OMA architect Ole Scheeren’s work but there’s something amazing about this current project in Bangkok. It is the standard architecture porn – a vertical city of offices, retails, boutique hotels and high-rise penthouses, a skybar blablabla – but the pixelating ribbon circling the building (designed to enclose inhabitants and protect the inner life of this sky-high city) is really puzzling, as if the tower was slowly being eaten away… maybe I’ve watched Madonna’s 4 minutes video a bit too much on Youtube!

Ole Scheeren - Mahanakhon

The mood is very intellectual at Turnleft today. Interesting debate via Twitter – here’s the first tweet:

@turnleftguides: “Curator of new Martin-Gropius-Bau xibit argues that Ikea is a legacy of bauhaus! thoughts?”

Thanks to Daniela for a great contribution, via Facebook:

“I agree: the production of functional and affordable design (and architecture, as well) was one of the most important issues introduced by the Bauhaus architects and designers”

Followed by:

“Ikea was originally born (in 1943) as a company that sold whatever could be purchased at a reduced price and sold at a competitive price; only later on it focused its production on low-cost wood furniture, just because it seemed the best deal in cost and earnings. So, the basic idea was more [...] a commercial strategy, which exploited the idea of a good, affordable and functional design, idea that was already present in many European countries and diffused in Germany even before the birth of the Bauhaus”

It won’t get us Ikea as an advertiser – although our new collection of poster magazines fits their clip frames perfectly – but it makes Modell Bauhaus, the current exhibition at the Martin Gropius Bau all the more interesting. It started 2 days ago and finishes 4 October. Then it moves to New York.

Modell Bauhaus