Laureate: Compagnie O.

The Top Sports School is a ‘machine à exceller’ meant to operate seamlessly and swift – an incubator for Belgium’s next generation of top athletes.The inhabitant – an often slightly narcissistic and voyeuristic athlete – is obsessed with his body, performance and ranking. In response, the inside of the building is one of reflective/transparent surfaces and long vistas. One is simultaneously observer and observant.The building lies on the 6th Brialmont-fortress of the fortress ring around the city of Antwerp, next to its very own Roman Circus-type square: the Square of Parades. Its sculptural concrete base is filled with sports facilities and gives the building a kind of spatial autonomy to its surroundings. On top of this base the so-called “school-disk” functions as a kaleidoscopic glasshouse for education.