South side: Wallonia’s contemporary architecture is surveyed at the Sicli Pavilion
![Exhibition in Sicli Pavilion in Geneva](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Ed84u25vPdYamqHMQpWsza-415-80.jpg)
The undulating geography of southern Belgium, also known as Wallonia, is different from that of the country’s north, just as its language, its culture and its politics. As a result, the French-speaking region – which operates under a separate government – also developed an architectural vision that addresses the needs of the territory.
An exhibition opening tomorrow at the Sicli Pavilion in Geneva, ‘Entrer: five architectures in Belgium’, draws attention to examples of contemporary architecture in Wallonia and Brussels, in a sensory concept that combines objects and material from the sites with soundscapes by Christophe Rault and photographs by Maxime Delvaux. 'The architects chosen to participate in this exhibition are architects who go the extra mile, who go above and beyond that what a brief prescribes,' says Audrey Contesse, the architect and art historian who curated the project.
In the city of Spa, architecture practice Baukunst aimed for minimal landscape intervention with its Sports Centre La Fraineuse. In a valley housing a classicist castle, they levelled the surrounding sports fields to open up the view, and built a single-floor square structure with floor-to-ceiling glass walls. In the industrial wasteland that is the city centre of Dison, Baumans-Deffet proposed to preserve the structure of the Interlac complex – an enormous former dairy factory – and, from within, created an urban redevelopment with room for the arts and human interaction, reusing what they could.
The tendency to repurpose existing territory as a palimpsest also occurs in another two projects, both in the public domain: a dynamic footbridge in the centre of Brussels by MSA and Ney & Partners; and L'Artothèque, a former chapel in Mons that was converted into a museum by L’Escaut and Atelier Gigogne. One outlier was included in 'Entrer': a garden pavilion built for a private client by the young Flemish architecture practice VERS.A. But even here, the desire to minimise human impact predominated in the choice of materials and unobtrusive appearance of this discrete structure, at the edge of a woods in Renaix.
’Polyvalent Infrastructure’ is Baukunst’s landscape intervention at a sports centre in the city of Spa.
The 'M' garden pavilion by VERS.A was built for a private client.
MSA and Ney & Partners created a dynamic footbridge in the centre of Brussels
Baumans-Deffet oversaw the redevelopment of a former dairy factory complex in Bison – called Interlac – into an art centre
INFORMATION
’Entrer: five architectures in Belgium’ is on view until 13 October. For more information visit the project’s website
ADDRESS
Sicli Pavillon
Route des Acacias 45
1227 Acacias
Geneva
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Siska Lyssens has contributed to Wallpaper* since 2014, covering design in all its forms – from interiors to architecture and fashion. Now living in the U.S. after spending almost a decade in London, the Belgian journalist puts her creative branding cap on for various clients when not contributing to Wallpaper* or T Magazine.
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
Green Ark, a new garden pavilion from modified softwood, is conceived for plant conservation
The Green Ark, set in the heart of Belgium's Meise Botanic Garden, is an ultra-sustainable visitor pavilion by NU Architectuur Atelier
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Residence Norah is a modernist Belgian villa transformed to its owner’s needs
Residence Norah by Glenn Sestig in Belgium’s Deurle transforms an existing gallery space into a flexible private meeting area that perfectly responds to its owner’s requirements
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Bruges Triennial 2024 takes over the city with contemporary art and architecture
Bruges Triennial 2024, themed 'Spaces of Possibility', considers sustainability and liveability within cities, looking towards a greener future
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
‘Interior sculptor’ Christophe Gevers’ oeuvre is celebrated in new book
‘Christophe Gevers’ is a sleek monograph dedicated to the Belgian's life work as an interior architect, designer, sculptor and inventor, with unseen photography by Jean-Pierre Gabriel
By Tianna Williams Published
-
A Belgian house in the fields blends subtle minimalism with family life
House in the Fields by Stef Claes is a family retreat in the green Belgian countryside sprinkled with a US modernist architecture twist
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
House P’s linear, leafy composition aims for a ‘sensory architecture’
House P by Vandenborre Architecten is a family home conceived as a leafy sanctuary of minimalist elegance in suburban Belgium
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
This 1970s brutalist house in Belgium has a new life as a designer’s home and studio
1970s brutalist house Villa Stuyven is now home to creative couple Bram Kerkhofs and Lore Baeyens, providing a concrete-lined backdrop to a life of design and collaboration
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Step inside the Pringiers family’s rural retreat in Belgium
Belgian architect Glenn Sestig’s latest project for the Pringiers family is a rural retreat and private gallery featuring an award-winning concrete construction
By Ellie Stathaki Published