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Flanders Architectural Review N°17

Over the next year and a half, the VAi will be working on the seventeenth edition of the Flanders Architectural Review. Every two years, this series maps out the most high-profile architecture from Flanders and Brussels. It also invariably reflects on current challenges within and around the discipline. In order to work with as broad a perspective as possible, the VAi and the editorial board are launching this Call for Projects.

Flanders Architectural Review 1994-2024 - Flanders Architecture Institute

Flanders Architectural Review

The Flanders Architectural Review has been published uninterruptedly every two years since 1994. Over the course of three decades, the series has grown into a reliable touchstone for architecture from Flanders and Brussels. Within a highly developed field of architecture, the book examines recent productions in the light of social, political and spatial changes. Underlying the book is the conviction that high-quality architecture emerges out of a well-considered relation to its context. This can be the urbanistic, programmatic or socio-economic context of a concrete design issue. But also the broader context of social challenges with a spatial component, such as climate change, social inequality, mobility, densification, an ageing population, etc. Drawing on good architecture, the Flanders Architectural Review aims to continue to map out the social position of designers and the architectural discipline on a structural basis.

Editorial board Flanders Architectural Review N°17 - Flanders Architecture Institute

Call for Projects

The editorial board of the Flanders Architectural Review N°17 wants to map out architecture from Flanders and Brussels based on a broad understanding of the discipline and a pronounced social commitment. The first meeting of the editorial board led to the following statement, which may be read as a guideline for the contents of this call for projects:

‘We are looking for projects and practices that show a deep engagement with context, both physical and social. We are particularly interested in precise readings and (re)uses of existing structures as well as in ambitious approaches to material cycles. We also seek inclusive architecture: spatial structures and processes that actively aim to destigmatize and support social participation. In this call, we welcome not only architectural projects, but also artistic or research projects and civic initiatives revolving around specific spatial conditions or broader societal challenges with a spatial dimension.’

The VAi and the editorial board of the Flanders Architectural Review N°17 are therefore inviting not only architects and architecture professionals, but also clients, artistic practices, civic organizations and researchers to submit their projects.

The deadline for submissions is Thursday 19 June 2025 at 23:59.

Range

The Flanders Architectural Review always discusses architecture from Flanders and Brussels in two-year periods:

  • All projects in Flanders and Brussels are eligible, regardless of the background of the architects, as are projects abroad by architects from Flanders and Brussels.
  • Projects are eligible if they were built (or published, presented, implemented, etc.) between December 2023 and December 2025. (The editorial board will visit the built projects on the longlist in the autumn of 2025. At that time, the editorial board must be able to form a clear picture of the project.)
  • In addition to built architectural projects, we are also expressly open to other projects, practices and initiatives, as long as they are relevant to contemporary architecture from Flanders and Brussels. We have in mind artistic projects, sociocultural initiatives, academic and design research, projects from other design disciplines such as landscape, urban planning, interior and design, etc.

Submissions

Each submission must consist of a completed project form on the VAi website. The form encompasses a range of general and more detailed project data to give the editors as complete an image of each submission as possible.

In addition to the project data, we also ask that you document your project using:

  • A maximum of five images
  • A maximum of five graphic documents
  • A project description of no more than 2,000 characters
  • An argumentation of no more than 2,000 characters

The submitted data will be used for editorial purposes. If a project is selected for the Flanders Architectural Review No. 17, the VAi will contact the submitter in the spring of 2026 to collect production material, in more wide-ranging selections and higher quality, as well as to verify the data to be published. It is permitted at this stage to use approximations for certain not (yet) definitive data or lower-quality images (such as construction site images).

We strongly recommend that you first read through the form and gather all necessary information and files before completing the form. This will minimize the chance of unexpected error messages and unnecessary duplication of work.

Process

  • In the summer of 2025, the editorial board will examine all submissions and compile a longlist of projects to visit and/or examine more closely.
  • In the autumn of 2025, the editorial board will visit built projects from the longlist.
  • At the end of 2025, the editorial board will compile a longlist of projects that may appear in the Flanders Architectural Review, either as a stand-alone project or as part of a thematic (visual) essay.
  • In the spring of 2026, the editorial board will make the final selection for the book based on the projects and thematic (visual) essays.
  • In the spring and summer of 2026, the VAi will produce the final publication.
  • In the autumn of 2026, the VAi will present the Flanders Architectural Review N°17.

The VAi will communicate with submitters of unsuccessful projects in three phases: after the composition of the longlist, the shortlist and the final selection. In other words, submitters may assume that their project is still under consideration for publication unless otherwise informed by the VAi.

Survey Flanders Architectural Review N°16 - Flanders Architecture Institute

Anonymous survey

In parallel with the Call for Projects, starting with this edition the VAi will organize every two years an anonymous survey among submitters. This comes in response to the many socio-economic discussions currently under way in and around the architectural sector, such as the culture of competitions, the internship system, and gender and diversity. An initial version of this survey was conducted among the architects of the projects that appeared in the Flanders Architectural Review N°16. Inspired by the results of this survey, the VAi wants to actively participate in the social debate within and around the architectural practice.

The survey is completely anonymous and open to everyone, even if you are not submitting a project.

Anonymous Survey

Deadline

Submissions must be uploaded to the VAi website at the latest by Thursday 19 June 2025 at 23:59.

Account

To submit a project, you must have an account on the VAi website.

After registering, our website will direct you to the form you can use to submit your project(s).

Covers Flanders Architectural Review N°16 - Flanders Architecture Institute

Flanders Architectural Review N°16. Responses in Responsibility

The Flanders Architectural Review N°16. Responses in Responsibility was published only a few months ago. If you don’t yet have a copy on your bookshelf, order it quickly on our web shop.

To the web shop

Practical

  • DEADLINE:

    19.06.2025
    23:59h

  • SUBMIT PROJECT:

    Log in

  • CONTACT:

    Petrus Kemme (Project coordinator and editorr)
    petrus.kemme@vai.be
    +32 3 242 89 70

The Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi) manages a Building Database on its website. This is an online digital archive of contemporary architecture from Flanders and Brussels. The Buildings Database comprises a public section and a non-public section.

By submitting your project, you agree that the data will be stored in the non-public part of the Buildings Database. You are accountable for the content you provide and guarantee that you are authorized to submit the data to the non-public part of the Buildings Database. You license the rights that you own and control. You have the right to have data changed or deleted at any time.

If the VAi wishes to publish data submitted by you – in the Flanders Architectural Review, on the public part of the Buildings Database or elsewhere – it will first contact you to submit the data to be published for verification. Sensitive information, such as contact details, will never be published by the VAi.