B-architecten

(From Antwerp to Cannes, seventy years later) Last September, we celebrated the opening of our B-cinema — a former movie theatre we transformed into part of our Antwerp headquarters. As part of the festivities, we hosted a special screening of the 1955 Antwerp cult film ‘Meeuwen sterven in de haven’, starring a young Julien Schoenaerts.⁠
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Today, we’re proud to share the next chapter of that story: thanks to the generosity of our guests and other supporters, the film could be digitally restored by CINEMATEK, ànd it has now been selected for Cannes Classics 2026 — seventy years after the film’s original selection at the Festival de Cannes.⁠
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‘Meeuwen sterven in de haven’ follows a tormented man wandering through the port city of Antwerp. The film is widely regarded as a landmark in Belgian cinema and as Julien Schoenaerts’ first major screen role.⁠
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Its return to Cannes carries particular significance: in 1956, the film became the first Belgian production ever selected for the official competition of the Festival de Cannes, where it received the Grand Prix award.⁠
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We feel honoured to have contributed, in our own way, to the preservation and renewed visibility of this remarkable piece of Belgian cinematic heritage.⁠
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Discover the full Cannes Classics 2026 programme here: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/cannes-classics-2026/ ⁠
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Photo: special screening and speech during our opening celebration last year.
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(In the running) A shared landscape for living⁠
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Cohousing project Meeren has been selected for the longlist of the Architectura Awards’ first edition, in the category of collective housing — a first milestone for a project centred on living together.⁠
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Set on a one-hectare green domain in Olen, Meeren brings together eight nearly energy-neutral homes around a renovated Kempen barn that forms the social heart of the site. Private gardens open onto a shared landscape with a play area, swimming pond and vegetable garden, while the barn hosts spaces for gathering and working — from a communal kitchen to a coworking space and sauna.⁠
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Rather than a collection of individual houses, Meeren explores a balance between privacy and community, embedded in a collective landscape.⁠
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More on our website: https://b-architecten.be/projects/meeren
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Client: Heem
Photography: Lucid
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