The 5 most striking modern buildings in Antwerp

Renaat Braem, a student of Le Corbusier, built a small architectural gem in the Middelheim sculpture museum park in 1971. Designed to display fragile sculptures, this neat white building is composed of sensual curved forms.

Built by Léon Stynen in the 1960s, deSingel is a bold modern building next to the ring motorway. Originally a concert hall and music conservatory, it now includes an architecture institute located in the wood-clad extension designed by Stéphane Beel in 2011. The strange organic forms combined with the airy transparency make this an intriguing building.

The law courts on the southern edge of the city were designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership. The pointed roofs that rise above the individual courtrooms were intended to suggest ships’ sails or church spires, but locals prefer to see them as upturned frites cones.

This striking black-and-white striped corner building was designed by the architect Bob Van Reeth in 1985. Built as a private home for the interior designer Will Van Roosmalen, it was the first contemporary building on the Scheldt waterfront, based on an unrealised project by Adolf Loos for Josephine Baker.

A row of apartment blocks designed by Swiss architects Diener & Diener has brought sober contemporary design to the Eilandje district. The project involves the construction of six elegant towers, each 16 floors high, in slightly different styles.