For two seasons deSingel and the VAi (Flemish Architecture Institute) are offering eight young architectural firms a platform on which to present their ideas on architecture, urban planning and landscape design. The architects have been commissioned to provide solutions to pressing social issues and intellectually challenging questions in the course of the design process.
Open Wed > Zon, 2 > 6 pm and with performances (7 > 11 pm)
Closed Mon, Tue and holidays
In 2013 it will be a hundred years since Ghent held its world exhibition. Although the impact of this exhibition on the city's infrastructure is no longer considered exceptional, the event was nevertheless the occasion for both a thorough renovation of the city centre and a change in the attitude towards architecture and infrastructure. The city itself was exhibited by means of privileged views that were specially set up, examples being the slope up to St. Michael's Bridge, which forms a viewing platform for the Graslei and Korenlei, and the three towers in the heart of the city.
The design-based research Gijs Van Vaerenbergh carried out for Young Makers, Thinkers, Dreamers has resulted in the design of new architectural objects that function as viewpoints. These viewing devices are intended to direct the eye towards the surroundings and show off a new, artificial order. The starting point for the research was the request for a contemporary and critical perspective for and on Ghent. The result may incorporate either a concrete material condition or an ephemeral one, which challenges not only the architecture but also architectural criticism.