An even more dramatic building is the Havenhuis, a futuristic admin centre for the new container port. Built by the Anglo-Iraqi starchitect, Zaha Hadid, it resembles a gigantic jewel (a reference to Antwerp’s diamond trade). It opened in 2016, a few months after she died.
Snazzy landmarks like MAS and Havenhuis give Eilandje Instagram appeal, but I’m actually far more impressed by the smaller modern buildings that surround them. Wisely, Antwerp’s town planners retained a lot of Eilandje’s robust old wharfs and warehouses, and a new generation of architects have filled in the gaps in a subdued and unobtrusive style.
As the great British architect Sir David Chipperfield observed, modernist buildings can co-exist quite happily with older, more traditional structures, so long as you use the same materials and stick to the same scale. The modern buildings in Eilandje are a perfect case in point. There are a few ugly tower blocks, but most of them are subtle and attractive, the same size as their older neighbours, built of the same weathered brick.
However, Eilandje’s greatest achievement has been finding new uses for old buildings. In an old pumphouse, Johan van Dyck has founded his own craft brewery, the Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie. His signature brew is Seefbier – a creamy spicy buckwheat beer unique to Antwerp, which he’s revived here a century after it was driven out by bigger foreign brewers. You can buy bottles to take away, but this is the best place to drink it, in the rugged building where it’s made.