EXPOSING THE WORLD

This book focuses solely on the Shonandai cultural centre, the first major public project of Itsuko Hasegawa. The latest Everything without Content publication is the unlikely successor to the previous books we made on the works of Aldo and Hannie van Eyck and Giancarlo de Carlo (Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, 2023). Shonandai belongs to a different time —the 1980s— and a different place —Japan— but it shares the desire of the earlier generations to ‘overcome’ modernism. Hasegawa achieves this in the most outlandish way, possible perhaps only in Japan in the 1980s. Shonandai is where the 1960s techno-avant-garde comes full circle. The book features photographs by Stefano Graziani.

OFFICE 349: ATELIER VAN DE VELDE
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The construction of Atelier Van de Velde is progressing steadily with the concrete silhouette of the building taking shape within the landscape. The building, located in a flood-prone area in the outskirts of Leuven, is designed as a simple concrete box that features round perforations in its lower façade to allow controlled flooding of a crawlspace below the raised ground floor. Hanging from the longer edges of the flat roof are two aluminium canopies which provide a sense of privacy and covered outdoor space. The atelier has two levels, a workspace below and a residential area above, each independently accessible by retractable outdoor aluminium stairs that stand in stark contrast to the immobile, monolithic concrete volume. The building is scheduled to be completed in spring 2025.

OFFICE 334: OFFICE BUILDING
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

In Brussels, at the corner of Rue de la Science and Rue Montoyer, a major renovation of an office building is well underway, as the façade elements are assembled and put in place. The project reuses, transforms and optimizes the existing building by freeing the floor height from techniques, and by integrating ventilation ducts within the new façade. The new façade grid creates a distinct and recognisable identity, while allowing larger window openings, and overall improvement of the spatial quality of the office floors. A double-height foyer creates a transparent and porous ground floor and emphasises the building’s main entrance. As the work on the courtyard and interior partitions begins, the project remains on track for completion in spring 2025.

Bas Princen and Kersten Geers in dialogue

A conversation between Bas Princen and Kersten Geers on their collaborative practices is the first session of the new cycle of lectures organised by ARQUIN-FAD Barcelona. This event will take place on Monday December 2nd at 6.30PM at La Virreina Lab in Barcelona. You can find more info on the event here.

LECTURE AT THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN STUDIES AT TORCUATO DI TELLA UNIVERSITY IN BUENOS AIRES

Kersten Geers will give a lecture on OFFICE work on Monday November 4th at 19h at UTDT in Buenos Aires. The lecture is organised by the Centre for Contemporary Architecture Studies. You can find more info on the event here.

OFFICE 338: HOUSING COMPLEX (LOOFSTRAAT)
CONSTRUCTION STARTED

Construction has started on the Housing Complex (Loofstraat) for Compagnie Het Zoute in Kortrijk with the terrain clearance and excavation for the underground parking. Set within a diverse context of urban blocks, row houses, free-standing villas, and a protected English garden, this residential project seeks to connect the park and the city with a set of autonomous housing blocks nestled in a lush greenery. The design features five marble-clad, diamond-shaped volumes with triangular terraces within steel frameworks. The buildings’ distinct volumes, encased in a rhythmic grid of light steel studs, create an austere yet harmonious structure that integrates with its surrounding context.

OFFICE 126 Centres for Traditional Music is part of the group exhibition Restless Architecture at the MAXXI museum Rome. The exhibition was curated by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and will be on view from October 25th until March 16th 2025. You can find more info here.

Fondazione ICA Milano presents Picture Window Frame, an exhibition by Stefano Graziani and OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, curated by Cloe Piccoli, running from 03.10 to 30.11.2024.

This second iteration of a commission by window manufacturer Finstral, showcases Graziani's photography of Finstral’s production process and art collection, alongside new photographs from Milan’s artist archives, academies, and museums. The display, designed by OFFICE, reuses the aluminium window frames from the first exhibition, now reconfigured to fit a smaller space. A catalogue will be published by a+mbookstore. More info available here.

LECTURE AT THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA

Kersten Geers will give a lecture on OFFICE work on Wednesday October 9th at 7PM at Kuppelsaal at TU Vienna. The lecture is organised by the Institute of Architectural Design. You can find more info on the event here.

OFFICE 301: UNIVERSITY CAMPUS COMPLETED

OFFICE 301 University Campus in Antwerp, developed with Jaspers-Eyers Architects, is ready for its first academic year. The project transformed a former slaughterhouse into a hi-tech campus for 3,500 science and biomedical students. The single-story industrial hall was repurposed with a new floor slab, doubling its original 7,600 m² surface and blending smooth concrete with exposed structural elements. The lower façade was cut for continuous glazing and features round openings above for windows or air vents. The campus includes workshops, labs, and lecture rooms along two wide parallel corridors. A new connected tower houses classrooms and administration, with stepped terraces on the upper floors, forming a landmark for the future sustainable mixed-use development.

"Written as a kind of anti-guidebook, Something Completely Different by Christophe Van Gerrewey, appropriates certain clichés about Belgium (Baudelaire famously called Belgian monuments “counterfeits of France”), eschews the pragmatism of most guidebooks in favour of meditative, essayistic prose, and finally, cunningly, reveals that all along the subject has not been Belgium at all, but rather the nature of architecture." Published by MIT Press.

Cover photo OFFICE 50 After the Party by Bas Princen.

The latest edition of El Croquis magazine dedicated to the work of OFFICE has just been published. It presents a selection of twenty-five projects made over the period of seven years since the previous OFFICE monograph, including several projects that have not been published before. The issue also features an essay by Christophe Van Gerrewey and an interview Giovanna Borasi conducted with Kersten Geers and David Van Severen. You can find more info and order your copy here. 

LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

Kersten Geers and David Van Severen will present the latest publication on OFFICE work at the International Architectural Education Platform SEKISUI HOUSE - KUMA LAB. The lecture will take place on Friday July 19th at 6.30PM at Haseko-Kuma Hall. You can find more info on the event here.

EVERYTHING XVI-XX
A MODERNIST ENDING

This book chronicles the fourth academic year of the studio led by Kersten Geers at the Academy of Architecture USI in Mendrisio. It was produced as a counterpart to Experiments in Thickness, a book which focused on the work of Giancarlo de Carlo in Urbino. As a means of grappling with that elephant in the room—the modern project—and its perceived failure of good intentions, all the projects gathered here are an update of sorts. Abstract overarching narratives were updated as premises for projects in Milan, De Carlo’s campus in Urbino was updated to accommodate current student population, and unrealised projects in Milan were revived to create a radically contemporary urbanity. But this was not an exercise in nostalgia and retrieval of the lost cause, as much as seeking an opportunity in a modernist ending.

CHURCH TOWER AT THE PORT OF ANTWERP
BY BAS PRINCEN

Bas Princen is the laureate of the artist competition organised by the Port of Antwerp for the gothic church tower of Wilmarsdonk, the only remnant of the polder villages that have been erased in the 1960s for the expansion of the harbour, today completely surrounded by the shipping containers. Bas Princen's design — executed in collaboration with OFFICE – is a small garden around the tower, sunken to the original ground floor level, and enclosed by a railing structure that carries fourteen large photographs printed on metal sheets that depict 1:1 details of the tower. The official opening will take place on May 27th and this will be a rare occasion to see the tower and the installation, which will remain inaccessible. 

OFFICE 398: EXPO PARK PARK PARK
COMPETITION PROPOSAL

OFFICE and Inside/Outside’s competition proposal for a multifunctional exhibition center on the outskirts of Tirana aims to create first and foremost a park: a structuring ecosystem for the city’s future development. The design reduces to minimum the footprint of the multifunctional exhibition center by lifting the light structures from the ground and creating an uninterrupted continuation of public space. The architecture is organized into three volumes where simple geometric typologies and double skin envelopes provide maximum plan adaptability and programmatic flexibility. Its future-proof character, the capacity to stand ready to meet yet unformulated needs, contributes to the sustainability of the Expo Park.