To mark the launch of Flanders Architectural Review N°16 Responses in Responsibility, the VAi organised a trip for the international press on 19 and 20 November. Journalists from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, the UK, Sweden and Switzerland visited several high-profile projects from the latest Architecture Book in Kortrijk and Ghent.
The first day started in Antwerp with a visit to the exhibition Dogma: Urban Villa. We then moved on to Ghent, where there are quite a few projects from the latest edition of the architecture book. The visited projects embody the themes the book puts first: involvement and commitment, good commissioning, re-use and densification. At each project, the project architect and/or the client spoke to the journalists.
A lot of neighbourhoods and buildings are also in transition in Kortrijk. As a first stop we visited the Deelfabriek, the former fire station and today a hub for the sharing economy. It is also the project that's on the cover of the 16th edition of the architecture book. Then it was off to Aalbeke for a visit to the refurbished Sint Cornelius Church, ending at ABBY's yard.
The pressing challenges of our time mean that designers are facing new, less familiar areas of responsibility. They are required to negotiate their way through regulations, ecological commitment, building conventions and economic constraints. This Flanders Architectural Review N°16 shows how both designers and clients recurrently adopt a caring attitude when engaging with these challenges.
19.11.2024-20.11.2024
Flanders Architecture Institute
Visit Flanders and Sogent
