Belgian architecture

Architecture / 18 Dec 2018

Mario Botta and Koen Vanmechelen are behind Labiomista, a studio and biodiversity project

There’s something afoot in the small town of Genk in eastern Belgium. On the site of a former coal mine, a long, dark brick building with a cage at its centre and a large greenhouse at its western end has...

Architecture / 19 Nov 2018

Fosbury & Sons Boitsfort in Brussels brings home comforts into the workplace

Sinking into a deep sofa, surrounded by candles and ceramic vases filled with flowers, is not something you might associate with a hard day at work, but that’s why co-working company Fosbury & Sons’ ideas are just so radical. Serge...

Architecture / 9 Aug 2018

The design of an innovative DJs’ studio and apartment in Ghent doesn’t miss a beat

On a warm September afternoon in Ghent, Belgium, the Dewaele brothers – better known as producer and DJ duo 2manydjs – are enjoying a moment of calm in their studio’s library. Stephen has just arrived from London and he and...

Architecture / 25 Jun 2018

KAAN Architecten transforms a military school into a meditative library in Belgium

Locals have welcomed a new architectural landmark and cultural hub in the Flemmish city of Aalst, designed by KAAN Architecten. Puzzling its way through the centre’s irregular streets and stray squares, Utopia (as the building has been named) comprises a...

Architecture / 28 Mar 2018

Belgian modern: we explore the brick curves of Renaat Braem’s Maison Alsteens

Located in the serene forests of Overijse, a quiet residential community south of Brussels, House Alsteens is the brainchild of one of the most respected Belgian modernists, Renaat Braem. You’d be forgiven not to recognise the name. He, like many...

Architecture / 23 Jan 2018

Take off: a book celebrates the architecture of Julien De Smedt

At just over ten years in existence, JDS Architects, and its founder, Julien De Smedt, have already made their mark on the world architecture map with large-scale public projects such as the Holmenkollen Ski Jump in Oslo (one of the most...

Architecture / 10 Oct 2017

Ground up: the much-anticipated Kanaal development completes in Antwerp

A vast new cultural complex is soon to open just outside of Antwerp. What started in 1857 as a red-brick malting distillery, has been transformed into Kanaal, an artistic, residential and commercial destination on the banks of the Albert canal. The...

Architecture / 12 Jul 2017

Magic circle: Arjaan De Feyter casts a spell over a silo in Antwerp

‘Why live in a silo if you don’t respect the base form of a circle?’ asks Belgian interior architect Arjaan De Feyter, who embraced the challenge of designing an apartment located within eight old silos, converted by Axel Vervoordt...

Architecture / 7 Oct 2016

Deep in dunes: Belgian firm OOA creates a seaside shelter with a secret

A brutalist villa with a secret sunken storey has risen from the Belgian dunes near Oostduinkerke, a small seaside town known for its untarnished beaches and shrimpers on horseback. The family home is located within a community of bungalows built...

Architecture / 5 Oct 2016

South side: Wallonia’s contemporary architecture is surveyed at the Sicli Pavilion

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...

Architecture / 17 Jun 2016

Home office: a Flanders stable is transformed by Studio Farris

’This space is meant to put you in a different dimension while you are working,’ says architect Giuseppe Farris, and considering this home office appears elegantly pixelated, the phrase ’different dimension’ seems apt. Antwerp-based Studio Farris was tapped to...

Architecture / 6 May 2016

Celebrating the old: La Boverie breathes new life to Liège’s Fine Arts Museum

A new urban axis has been taking shape in the Southern Belgian city of Liège, starting at the Santiago Calatrava-designed train station, via a pedestrian bridge, and up until a shopping and audio-visual centre designed by Ron Arad. The latest addition to...