In the city centre of Sint-Niklaas, on the Grote Markt, the Neo-Gothic town hall has been renovated and extended. Next to the monument, a new building was cast with an exposed concrete structure. On the double-height ground floor are the city service centre with reception and counters. Within this space, the municipal archives are “hung” at a mezzanine level as floating volumes, supported by a single column, shaping the space beneath them. These volumes themselves function, as a whole, as a column within the load-bearing structure. The concrete structure absorbs heavy loads with large eccentricities. The resulting horizontal forces are transferred through the diaphragm action of the floors and the roof, which here act as flat horizontal beams.