How visitors experience contemporary architecture : North of Antwerp as a case study

Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to understand how visitors; both domestic and international, experience contemporary architecture in Belgium’s second largest city. The paper takes a deeper look into why visitors seek a particular site and their expectations towards it, in combination with the features of contemporary architecture that determine a pleasant experience for them. Their interactions with the spaces in question gives room for various experiences determining their satisfaction of the visit and ultimately, the extent to which they are willing to re-visit the site. Elements such as the pre-visit versus the real-time physical visit are taken into account and qualitative data has been collected to acknowledge the extent to which the contemporary architecture in North of Antwerp serves as a push for visitors to experience this region of the city. Concepts such as digitalisation are discussed and how visual content may play a role in setting expectations for the reality of the visit. Two in particular architectural landmarks have been analysed, being that of the Havenhuis (Port House) by Zaha Hadid and the Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS), both located in the Northern region of the city and constituting towards the city’s contemporary sphere. A survey with a set of questions has been presented to the relevant target audiences and the data collected aimed to draw up conclusions with regards to the focal points of the research. This research can serve as a helpful tool for the strategic development of city branding whereby authorities can gain a better understanding of how to go about in branding certain cities through the existence or development of architectural spaces, by analysing what it is that strikes the visitor. According to (Gavari- Barbas, 2018), success stories, often poorly analysed, sharpen the anxieties and ambitions of local governments seeking to position their cities on the new “global” map. In some cases, the impression is reached that the fate of a city may depend on the fate of a single prestigious facility (and this occurs mainly in the case of old industrial cities), capable of opening a new route to the economy.