Belgium · Flanders · Antwerp
Arenawijk, Antwerp — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Arenawijk is a planned social-housing quarter of Deurne in Antwerp, Belgium, laid out by Renaat Braem and Octave De Koninck.
About Arenawijk
Where to stay in Arenawijk
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Beds are scarce inside Arenawijk itself. The quarter went up as housing rather than as a place to visit, so most travellers base themselves elsewhere in Deurne or in central Antwerp and ride out to see what Renaat Braem drew. Zilvermuseum Sterckshof sits within the same reach.
Pick a base here if modernist housing and quiet streets suit you better than a room beside Antwerp Zoo.
About Arenawijk
What are the main landmarks in Arenawijk?
Architecture carries this quarter. Renaat Braem and Octave De Koninck planned the Arenawijk as social housing, and the blocks, the open ground around them, and the layout they share are what brings architecture-minded visitors out to Deurne. The Renaat Braem House, the architect's own home, is kept as a museum elsewhere in Antwerp.
The wider landmark list around the quarter runs from the Zilvermuseum Sterckshof and the Stampe en Vertongen Museum to the Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum and Antwerp Zoo.
What is the history of Arenawijk?
Arenawijk was drawn, not grown. Renaat Braem and Octave De Koninck designed the estate as social housing for Deurne, so its streets and blocks arrived together under one plan rather than filling in over generations the way an older quarter does. That origin still sets it apart from the older fabric of Antwerp.
Braem's own house, kept as the Renaat Braem House, records the same architect's thinking at domestic scale. Locals also call it woonwijk Arena.
Where is Arenawijk?
Arenawijk fills a planned pocket of Deurne, set back from the inner city of Antwerp, with open ground carried between its housing blocks.
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More areas in Antwerp
Updated September 2026