M127: from police station to coworking
In a previous life, M127 was a police station. There was no contact with the neighborhood, as it was a previously secret department. In 2017, several parties joined forces to buy the vacant building, completely strip it and rebuild it. The project, in which sustainability claims a central role, aimed from the start to connect as many parties as possible.
Law firm Schoups set up a collaboration with the adjacent Holy Ghost Church. Under the able guidance of architect Chris Poulissen, barriers were demolished and numerous interactions were created. The additions between the church and the office were demolished. The cleared space was redesigned into a neighborhood park with greenery and water. On the other side houses the music academy. The architects made an opening in the shared garden wall so that the academy's students could also enter the garden. Schoups put solar panels on the day of the church and of the academy, so that everyone uses green energy today. The water that flows from the roofs is collected and reused to flush the 20 toilets.
By removing physical barriers and collaborations, new, unplanned initiatives emerged. For example, a grand piano appeared in the event space for the music academy's open house. And it never left. It is now used for other events and occasionally a musical advocate sits at the keyboard. In the church is a special eighty-year-old organ. Many organists are interested in it and so the idea arose to organize concerts there or perhaps even a European competition. Underground there are two Cambio shared cars, the very first on private property.
Today, M127 has grown into a place for meeting, work, creativity and small-scale events, with office space, hospitality and a green outdoor space flowing together into an organic whole.
It is rather exceptional for a real estate project to be approached in this way. Because of this approach, there is a lot of interest from architecture institutes and the City of Antwerp. The coworking therefore also appeals to sustainable entrepreneurs. Finally, M127 caught the eye of architectural journalist Koen Van Synghel who devoted a positive article to it in De Standaard.
About M127
The building has eight floors, with the ground floor forming the beating heart with Caffènation, a public event space and access to the office floors. Floors two through eight are office space, with floors two and eight set up as coworking. The remaining office floors are leased by Schoups law firm. Cambio and Citibee are located on level -1.
