KANAAL, WIJNEGEM, BELGIUM

Kanaal is a cultural and residential complex designed by Axel Vervoordt.
It includes exhibition  spaces, a  multipurpose auditorium  and  permanent  installations by major artists.

Kanaal is a large brick-and-mortar industrial complex built  during the second-half of the 1800s, situated
on  the  banks of  the  Albert  canal, just  outside the city of Antwerp. The Axel Vervoordt Company began
acquiring the site in 1998 and began occupying the warehouse-like spaces from 1999.

From the start, it was Axel Vervoordt’s vision to create an authentic cultural and residential island amidst
a wealth of art and nature. The plan  was built around the  installation in 2000 of the work, “At the Edge of
the World” by Anish Kapoor, which serves as a  symbolic beating heart. The Kanaal project started in 2011
as a division of Vervoordt r.e, the real estate development company directed by Dick Vervoordt.  

The 55,000 square meter site was acquired in 1999 by the company Axel Vervoordt. Then began a rehabili-
tation of the warehouses in  collaboration with Stéphane Beel, Coussée & Goris and Bogdan & Van Broeck,
and the French landscaper Michel Desvigne.

The additional exhibition spaces were designed by Axel Vervoordt and architect Tatsuro Miki.