Challenges for a Vivid Architectural Culture: The Case of Flanders

The increasing number of architects from Flanders and Brussels who execute projects abroad is matched by wide-ranging international interest in Flemish architectural culture, as evidenced by exhibitions at renowned architectural schools and a raft of publications.

International attention is attracted by the way in which, in the architecture of Flanders, an apparent playfulness of forms is combined with extreme attention to detail, materials and context. In Flanders and Brussels, architecture operates in a multi-layered spatial context. The present architectural culture is indebted to a generation of designers who, starting in the 1980s, experimented with a radical reflection on the commonplace. There is also a close link between architecture and other artistic disciplines, and a great awareness of history runs through the profession. The combined deployment of these elements is not always evident abroad and is thus often experienced as surrealistic.

With an eye on the increasing outsourcing of the architectural culture in Flanders and Brussels, this program will examine how design from Flanders and Brussels can be exported. Several of the features that have typified architecture in Flanders since the 1980s and 1990s will be explored, including a pronounced sensitivity to context and the refined dialogue between the object and its surroundings.

Speakers include:

Dr. Bart Tritsmans, Exhibitions Director, Flanders Architecture Institute
Asli Ciçek, Editor and Independent Designer, KU Leuven
Sofie De Caigny, Director, Flanders Architecture Institute
Florian Idenburg, AIA, Co-founder, SO-IL