The Riverside Tower on the Left Bank is an elegant, concrete residential tower built in 1972 by architects Léon Stynen and Paul De Meyer. The penthouse served as De Meyer's private residence. The architect was keen on his privacy. The duplex flat was never published in a magazine and, until after De Meyer's death in 2011, remained a closely guarded secret. Mulier and Blazy had the house renovated by Glenn Sestig, respecting De Meyer's architecture, and the roof garden by landscape architect Martin Wirtz.

Pieter Mulier showed his new collection for Maison Alaïa quite exceptionally at home, in his sleek penthouse on Antwerp's Left Bank.

Two years ago Sabato published ‘the most beautiful penthouse of Antwerp’. Last month, this penthouse hosted the fashion show of Maison Alaïa. The owner of the penthouse and the creative director of Maison Alaïa are not coincidentally one and the same person, Pieter Mulier. The rooftop appartement is on the twentieth floor of the iconic Riverside tower of Léon Stynen en Paul de Meyer. The penthouse itself was reinterpreted by Glenn Sestig in 2016, which created a setting for a night of couture.

Through the connectivity of different cultures, technologies and living environments, the retail sector is increasingly varied and experimental. At the same time, the uncertainties of the last two years have shown that free international trade between nations and continents is a fragile asset. Retail chains have been severed and the availability of energy and raw materials is limited. Creative stopgaps, as well as analogue and digital elements that appeal to all our senses, give new impulses for urban retailing.

Two of our latest retail projects have been selected to be a part of this publication. Our spaces for AGL and Morobé are both based on their own strong visual identity bringing forward the culture those brands carry.

Volume 8 of 'Retail Design International' by avedition

Photography by Jean Pierre Gabriel

Elliot is a collection of massive furnitures made of highly geometric volumes intersecting each other. Their essential, extremely graphic lines fully enhance every single natural material which composes them, from wood, with its one-of-a-kind veneering, to the charming contrasts of travertine and the soft, velvety touch of leather, as well as the strong presence of metal and the unique gloss of bronze-colored glass.
Every creation is thus a monolithic statement piece which plays with contrast, texture, color and light. 

The Pringiers’ appreciation for great architecture has led this art- and design-savvy family to commission some of the world’s finest contemporary architects, such as Japanese master Tadao Ando. Following past collaborations with this inspiring client, including a townhouse in Brussels and a holiday home in Port Grimaud, Glenn Sestig has now developed a striking, sculptural concrete home for the Pringiers; a place where all family members can retreat to, meet and relax when their international travels bring them back to their home country of Belgium.

Photography by Victor Dewildeman