In 1970, T.O.P. office was founded in Antwerp by architect Luc Deleu. In 1972 this office undertook its first major architectural project by participating in the architectural competition for the extension of the university campus of the U.I.A. under the title 'Mobile Medium University'. Within Luc Deleu's thought process of occupying as little land as possible with built architecture, he proposed to organize the new campus of the U.I.A. at sea by recycling three discarded, military aircraft carriers into a kind of floating university.
Following a conversation between RE-ST architects and artist Nico Dockx at the end of a think tank meeting on 21 December 2019 at the Flemish Architecture Institute, a proposal was made -in close dialogue with Luc Deleu- to realize his unrealized idea of a floating university on a small scale in 2021.
In collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp (Expanding Academy program), UAntwerp, RE-ST architects, Z33, and CIVA/ Centre Pompidou
(image: Luc Deleu, 'Mobile Medium University', 1972, mixed media, model: 21,5 x 104,5 x 55 cm, Tatjana Pieters)
