The Vehicle

A piece of street on wheels, a mobile drawing table and a place for encounter and debate: Opwielenstraat is the winning design of Maalstroom’s Open Call °°4: The Vehiclel . The design was created by six young makers: Marie Huysentruyt, Julia Buffel, Sander Jamaer, Tuur De Pauw, Dries Denayer and Nathan De Riddere.

On Tuesday 29 September 2026, the external expert jury, consisting of Joris Kerremans, Marie Vanderghote and Bert Villa, gathered to assess the submitted designs. This was no easy task, given the high quality of the entries we received.

After extensive deliberation, the jury unanimously selected Opwielenstraat as the vehicle that will get Ghent moving over the coming years. The concept of a mobile structure that simultaneously leaves a void in a fixed location in the city — where the street will be excavated — convinced the jury members. The design also sparks the imagination, with a poetic quality in its transformation of an otherwise ordinary stretch of public thoroughfare into a stage.

In addition to Opwielenstraat, the jury awarded honourable mentions to four projects: Carrying Our Own Ground, Een Dak Overmorgen, Vuurtoren and The Grape Society. Discover all the submissions here!

Opwielenstraat

Bringing the street to the street. Taking the street out of the street to make room for a flower bed. What we mean is cutting out a section of street measuring one and a half by five metres and putting it on wheels. Its name is Opwielenstraat. The street as one large drawing table, drawing together on the Opwielenstraat. Coffee rings on the drawing paper, coffee rings on the street. The street as a stage for a lecture, a platform for debate. A few monobloc chairs on the street, the projector brought out of storage, and the cava already chilled. Bringing the street to the street. The vehicle is a means of opening up a conversation about space within public space. The vehicle is a place for coming together. The vehicle is a vehicle for much-needed urban change.

Getting Ghent moving

With Open Call °°4: The Vehicle, Archipel vzw and Maalstroom set out to find a mobile and recognisable design that could bring architecture closer to the residents, users and passers-by of Ghent. Over the coming years, the vehicle will appear in various locations and contexts: from squares and neighbourhoods to architectural projects and university campuses. Among other things, it can be used during the jury discussions for the Ghent Architecture Prize, as a mobile base for Maalstroom, or as a place to collect stories, exchange ideas and discover the city from new perspectives.
With Opwielenstraat, this ambition takes concrete shape: a piece of street on wheels, ready to travel through Ghent and create space for encounters, conversations and exchange. Over the coming months, the design team will further develop and refine the proposal, while work on its realisation gets underway. Keep an eye on our website, newsletter and Instagram for updates on the construction process!