EVERYTHING ARCHITECTURE

Retrospective exhibition at BOZAR, Brussels

Year: 2016

OFFICE's retrospective 'Everything Architecture' was organised in the antichambres of the Victor Horta-designed BOZAR arts centre in Brussels, from march 3rd until May 29th 2016

The point of departure for the exhibition is the idea that each of the products of OFFICE is considered a project in itself. Models, drawings and perspectives are will populate the antechambers of the Centre for Fine Arts as individual objects, together with works of art that are related to the spirit and language of OFFICE. In this field of objects, sculptures are considered as compagnons de route to the architectural production. Paintings and photo's enforce or break the different antechamber perspectives and search for dialogue.

The exhibition was accompagnied by a limited edition release of 'OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen — Volume 2', the first published part of an ouevre catalogue in the making, which is published/distributed by Walter König.

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ENTRANCE

Entrance and reception area of a notary’s office

Location: Antwerp, BE
Year: 2002–2003
Surface: 80 m²

A notary’s office fills a large 18th century aristocratic town house. The old building is of a radiating beauty. In the middle of the building a windowless space was to be converted into the main reception area. How to make something spatial in a space not bigger than a stamp? First the entrance area was extended to connect the street with the atrium and garage. Secondly, the spatial limits of the reception area were expanded, converting it into sheer endlessness.

The entire entrance area has a basic wall/ceiling finishing, basic lights and one floor material. Within this, a modular mirror glass wrap encloses a comfort-zone for the reception area. The wrap is an inside-out glass façade, showing only the smooth, bronze-like mirror glass to its interior. It is conceived as a repetition of one module. The rest space between the glass line and the old walls of the building is used by each module as extension area: the depth of it is maximised to incorporate lamps and storage space. All modules open like giant doors, providing access to the adjacent rooms and hallway.

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SUMMERHOUSE

House extension

Location: Ghent, BE
Year: 2004–2007
Budget: EUR 150 000
Surface: 170 m²

The expansion of a 19th century town house in the heart of Ghent resulted in two houses. In the irregular outdoor space alongside the existing ‘winter house’ a ‘summer house’ was marked out by a precise modular frame of steel sections, overgrown with grapevines . A narrow strip of this frame, right against the winter house, was roofed with steel grilles which rest on six thin fins of polished steel. Enclosed by sliding panels of single glass, an intermediate climate prevails in this roofed section. In the remaining spaces between the frame and the garden wall a garden storage shed, an outdoor kitchen and space for storing firewood are to be found. By placing a number of mirrored glass doors in the corners of the perimeter, the winter house ‘disappears’ once the summer house is entered.

This house offers a new interpretation for the typical outbuilding, making it into a new, independent universe, precisely by the visual experience of detaching the new house from the original house. The various layers from which the summer house is constructed – the steel frame, the climbing vines, the glass doors – absorb the slow passage of the seasons. (photos by Bas Princen)

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BORDER GARDEN

Location: Mexico / United States
Year: 2005

International competition, 1st prize, i.c.w. Wonne Ickx

An oblong volume provides a border crossing for pedestrians between Mexico and the US, and interrupts the endless demarcated boundary. A nine-metre high wall defines a no-man’s-land between the two countries. Within the white walls a grid of palm trees imposes order on a large, shaded garden. Pavilions for passport control and administration are spread around here and there, becoming part of the garden. The oasis is a point of reference in the vast Tex-Mex landscape, hidden within the open landscape by its walls. In all its simplicity it raises questions about the desire for the promised land.

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A GRAMMAR FOR THE CITY

Design of a new Administrative Capital of South-Korea

Location: South-Korea
Year: 2005

International competition, 1st prize
In collaboration with Dogma

This city, designed for 500,000 residents, is organised as a sequence of rooms that are formed by ‘city walls’. The city walls are a composition of cruciform buildings that represent two-thirds of the built mass of the city. These ‘walls’ form the habitable architectonic structure of the city. The spaces between the city walls are rooms without content, providing the space for further urban development. The future content is the furniture of the rooms, as it were. The plan seeks to define the form of the city in a rigid manner, without lapsing into the naïve modernistic ideal of the city as a fixed, predetermined organisation of buildings. The city walls and city rooms form the ‘genesis’ of the city, its bare facts. In this manner they fulfil the only role that can be ascribed to architecture: providing a specific inertia against the instability of life itself.

This city, designed for 500,000 residents, is organised as a sequence of rooms that are formed by ‘city walls’. The city walls are a composition of cruciform buildings that represent two-thirds of the built mass of the city. These ‘walls’ form the habitable architectonic structure of the city. The spaces between the city walls are rooms without content, providing the space for further urban development. The future content is the furniture of the rooms, as it were. The plan seeks to define the form of the city in a rigid manner, without lapsing into the naïve modernistic ideal of the city as a fixed, predetermined organisation of buildings. The city walls and city rooms form the ‘genesis’ of the city, its bare facts. In this manner they fulfil the only role that can be ascribed to architecture: providing a specific inertia against the instability of life itself.

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BRIDGE

Bridge for the Handelsbeurs
In collaboration with Util Structuurstudies

Location: Ghent, BE
Year: 2006–2008
Budget: EUR 550 000
Surface: 120 m²

Winner of the Belgian Building Award 2008, category Public Space

More than simply a connection from A to B, this bridge, located in the center of Ghent, connects the bank of the Ketelvest canal with the terrace behind the Handelsbeurs concert hall to create an urban space. Originally commissioned to improve delivery and fire egress, the bridge provides a new entrance and perspective toward the concert hall. The difference in height between its two ends is explicitly recognized by the design of the bridge. The horizontal silhouette of the bridge is defined by the balustrades. They are made of a vertical latticework of Azobe wood, so that from the Ketelvest and the nearby bridges it appears transparent rather than massive. However, if one stands immediately beside the bridge, the side walls appear solid. The bridge becomes a place in itself, an enclosed space that, through its trapezoidal form, lengthens or foreshortens the perspective, depending on which side it is being viewed. Anyone crossing the bridge is absorbed into the optical illusion created by the railings and deck. (photos by Bas Princen)

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CITÉ DE REFUGE

Project for Architecture Biennial of Rotterdam, Special Mention Award

Location: Ceuta, MA/ES
Year: 2007
Surface: 30 000 m²

Cité de Réfuge is a project that was developed within the context of the 2007 Rotterdam Architecture Biennale, the theme of which was ‘Power’. Ceuta is a Spanish enclave on Moroccan soil. The project gives a face to the politicized border crossing at Ceuta: a refugee city in the no-man’s-land between two cities (Ceuta and Tangier), between two countries (Spain and Morocco), between two continents (Europe and Africa). This city is formed by a large square of 482 x 482 metres that is surrounded by a colonnaded structure, like a thick rampart. Within this wall all the infrastructure elements of a border crossing are to be found: offices, hotels, stores... The walled plaza is left undisturbed, without a programme. It is a market square, a reception space, like a quay. In this way the Cité de Réfuge reflects the powerlessness to achieve solutions to the problems occurring on this border. At the same time the project investigates the city in its most radical, concise form: as a deliberate act, a political decision.

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VILLA

Location: Buggenhout, BE
Time: 2007–2010
Budget: EUR 350 000
Surface: 312 m²

This freestanding dwelling is situated in the middle of a parcel between woods and an agricultural area near the village of Buggenhout. The enclosure—a modular steel fence—is an integral part of the design and defines the volume of the house. The surrounding unkempt garden is not included, and functions as an automotive access around the house. The dwelling itself is composed of two levels: an open “outside house” on the ground floor, and a closed “inside house” on the first story, with views of the woods and rural landscape. The outside house is conceived as a patio villa with a garden. Its thick double walls—two load-bearing layers of standard brick, painted white—carry a concrete platform that forms the base for the inside house. The inside house is a compact set of rooms in the depth of the roof of the patio villa. This is conceived as a wooden box that covers the platform, which is made watertight by covering it completely with a dark plastic membrane. All detailing on this project is designed from the inside out: the huge sliding windows are added to the façade in such a way that the frames are invisible and do not impose on the impressive views. These are directed at the still open, rural landscape, while the neighboring houses remain relatively invisible. By deliberately moving the fence in from the edges of the property line, the dwelling becomes actually “freestanding”—a rare luxury in parcelized Belgium. (photos by Bas Princen)

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LAKESIDE VILLA

Location: Keerbergen, BE
Year: 2007

The residence lies on the lake at Keerbergen. The lake is not, however, accessible for those who live around it. The house, a large black volume, stands among the trees in the middle of the site. It preserves a certain distance from the lake. A water feature is included within the dwelling. A number of objects – a sauna, terrace and observation tower – stand in this water garden, seeking a relation with the lake. The house is organized around the water garden by the placement of a number of simple volumes in a continuous circuit. The inside garden is an accessible bit of water that is an integral part of the experience of the patio villa. Precisely by organizing the house as a circuit around the water garden, the attempt is made to exploit the romance of the site – the woods and the lake – to its fullest, while at the same time making a defiant gesture toward the deceptive luxury of the inaccessible lake.

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XPO

Masterplan, exhibition hall, entrance building and gallery

Location: Kortrijk, BE
Year: 2007–2009
Budget: EUR 11 500 000
Surface: 25 000 m²

In collaboration with Bureau Goddeeris Architectenvennootschap, Joachim Declerck, en Bureau Bas Smets

Kortrijk XPO is a typical exposition complex: a multifarious collection of similar halls, corridors connecting them to one another, and snippets of vegetation. As one unifying gesture, a frame is placed around this chaotic entity. This frame is made up of a gallery constructed as a modular steel grid, in both elevation and plan. Occasional metal screens make this frame alternately open and closed, oriented towards or screening off its asphalted and logical interior. Outside the frame the surroundings are natural and green. The entrance to the exposition hall is accented by an office building that adopts the structure of the frame, thus forming a gateway to the interior. The frame redefines the exposition side as a clear whole, delineating its place in the urban fabric. The frame is a gallery that imposes order on the entrances, passages, parking, and logistics. It gives the XPO site a recognizable façade that mediates between the scale of the visitor, that of the site, and that of the exhibition hall that it encloses. (photos by Bas Princen)

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COMPUTER SHOP

Commercial space, workshop, offices and appartement

Location: Tielt, BE
Year: 2008–2010
Budget: EUR 500 000
Surface: 450 m²

The party walls of a lot in Tielt are raised to their maximum height. On the side toward the street the elevated wall forms a wide entrance. Within this frame stand two identical buildings, mirror images opposite one another, thus defining an inner courtyard. The block on the street side contains a store and reception area; the block at the back of the lot contains the less public section, the logistics spaces. The twin buildings are constructed as matter-of-factly as possible out of the typical range of industrial techniques and materials. The structure consists of thin steel columns and beams, and steel deck floors. Both are clad with a pronounced curtain façade, partly filled in by glass, partly by polycarbonate panels. The courtyard defined by the two volumes functions as a parking and entrance zone.. The remaining space between the footprint of the buildings and the lot lines becomes a whimsical garden, as a complement to their regularity. (photos by Bas Princen)

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WATERSILO

Open Oproep competition
In collaboration with UTIL

Location: Beersel, BE
Year: 2007
Budget: EUR 1 000 000

A water silo is placed next to an existing water tower, with which it is connected by means of a bridge. The old tower loses its function, but is preserved. The new silo is comprised of nine connected chambers which, because of their individual measurements, can be brought to the site as ready-made cylinders. The connecting bridge contains all the necessary technical services and antennae. In this way the new
silo functions specifically and only as a water reservoir. The interior of the old water tower is stripped out, containing only a stairway that provides access to the technical bridge. The composition of tower, silo and bridge creates a window to the landscape, lending a public character to the silo complex without the objects themselves being accessible. At the foot of the complex passers-by find a place to pause, a balcony that
frames the Brabant landscape.

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AFTER THE PARTY

Belgian Pavilion for the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2008

Location: Venice, Italy
Year: 2008
Budget: EUR 150 000
Surface: 800 m²

Invited competition among 13 young Belgian practices, 1st price

In the Belgian pavilion for the 2008 Venice architecture biennale the existing pavilion building is enclosed by a seven-meter high wall—composed of standard Italian scaffolding that was rethought and redesigned—and thus separated from the predominant context of the architecture biennale. The floor of both the existing pavilion and the new “garden” is covered with a layer of confetti that is both pragmatic and symbolic. Chairs are spread here and there around the new pavilion to allow for moments of rest from the chaos of biennales past and present. The existing awning under the skylights of the pavilion was removed so that sunlight streams directly in. Visitors walk through between the two layers of the outer wall and enter the original pavilion through a side entrance, disorienting them before their experience of a new aggregate of spaces. In the new walled garden of the pavilion one can sit in the sun or under the shadow of trees. The new Belgian pavilion frames and displays the existing pavilion, a piece of architecture that has been constantly adapted and transformed over the years. (photos by Bas Princen)

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25 ROOMS

Villa in Ordos

Location: Ordos, CN
Year: 2008
Budget: EUR 1 000 000
Surface: 1000 m²

Part of the 'Ordos 100'-project, selected by Herzog & De Meuron, curated by Ai Weiwei

The design for a 1,000-square-meter residence in the Mongolian desert is reduced to the design of just one component, a room: a rectangular space with four entrances and no prescribed function. The room receives its individual character only through its ceiling height and its relative position in the house. Twenty-four identical rooms are organized over three stories, on each floor time forming an enfilade around a central atrium that is protected from harsh winds and sand storms. The inner garden is the actual outdoor space of the house, to which all of the rooms are oriented. Two flights of stairs, which stand in the middle of the room like pieces of furniture, provide the connection between the stories.

Because the building is sunken into the ground, only the top story can be seen in the residential neighborhood, like the tip of an iceberg. As in traditional Mongolian settlements, the house forms a microclimate: its underground position profits from the relatively constant ground temperature, tempering the extreme temperatures of the Mongolian climate. The structural base of the project is a massive concrete base, which by its weight prevents the house from being pushed up by the water force. The concrete wall decreases in width towards the top. Inside, the walls between rooms are doubled, and the space in between used to house the impressive array of ducts, vents, and other technical equipment required by a house of this comfort level. All rooms are equipped with double glass doors, allowing for each room to be closed off separately to maintain it’s singular logic.

The luxurious aspect of this residence is not in an extravagant form or use of materials, but in the abundance of spaces. The enigmatic twenty-fifth room on the roof is for the attendant: a lookout post on a thick wall.

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WEEKEND HOUSE

House extension and renovation

Location: Merchtem, BE
Year: 2008–2012
Budget: EUR 550 000
Surface: 400 m²

This weekend house occupies the complete surface of a deep lot in small town in Flanders. The long backyard of an existing rowhouse is transformed into the weekend house proper; the whole length becomes the house, turning the existing building into a guest house. The new house is organized as a perspectival sequence of four equal rooms, thus providing a sequence of similar spaces whose infill is always different. The sequence of spaces organizes a variety of distinct characteristics—a garden, a pool house, a courtyard, a living room. Central wall openings create an enfilade throughout the different spaces and a sliding glass roof enhances the flexibility of their usage. Each of the rooms gets its specificity through its particular furniture. Together they form a set of interlocking mini-universes. The brick walls are doubled, allowing auxiliary features such as sliding glass doors, double doors, and a fireplace to be placed between the walls. A steel corniche, inspired by the rail of the sliding glass roof clearly frames the perimeter. The core of the house is formed by the middle two rooms: one with a fixed roof, where two wood elements make the space inhabitable; and the other is a tropical greenhouse with a mobile roof, which contains a bathroom unit and a swimming pool. On each side of these two rooms one finds a garden room. Closest to the living room is a simple green landscape, and between the green house and the guest house a paved courtyard. In the summer the mobile roof moves over the court, turning the sequence of the four rooms into a complete house, effectively creating a weekend house cut away from any sense of context and reality: a mirage. Each of the fixed elements in the room is an actor in the composition, carefully designed to live together with the residents and furniture. (photos by Bas Princen)

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CENTRAL PARK TURNHOUT

Masterplan for the ringroad and park, tunnel and dike

Location: Turnhout, BE
Year: 2008 - ... (in development)
Budget: EUR 40 000 000
Surface: 80 000 m2
Competition, 1st price, in collaboration with Technum

In the medium-sized city of Turnhout, part of the ring road will be tunneled, freeing an area between the centre and the city park. The Master plan for this area comprises of several interventions, re-instating the existing park as a ‘Central Park’ for Turnhout.

The key element is a dike above the half-submerged tunnel. The dike formalises a new urban edge and extends the park over the ring road towards the city. It is at the same time a barrier to and vantage point over the park. In the park itself several scenic interventions enforce the existing structure. At the other side of the dike a row of 4 towers, evenly spaced, marks the southern limit of the city. The proportion of the towers allows for different programs, living, offices and the extension of the neighbouring hospital. Between the towers low rise buildings are developed around courtyards which open towards the park.

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CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Office building for VOKA, West-Flanders Chamber of Commerce
In collaboration with Bureau Goddeeris Architectenvennootschap and Bureau Bas Smets

Location: Kortrijk BE
Year: 2008–2010
Budget: EUR 3 500 000
Surface: 3 250 m2

Invited competition, 1st prize
Nominated for the Mies Van Der Rohe-award 2011

This office building, housing the Chamber of Commerce in West Flanders, stands like a villa in the landscape of the urbanized edge of Kortrijk. The building is conceived as having two faces, like the Roman god Janus, showing distinctly different aspects to the street and the garden. The representative façade on the street side, completely of glass, displays the organization's operations like a billboard in a giant concrete cabinet. The only architecture within the open plan are the two prominent staircases. The entrance is on the more intimate side of the building facing the garden. Its V-shape frames a part of the landscape and embraces the entrance plaza with a lower-lying patio, around which all the public parts of the building are accommodated. Here Villa Voka forms the edge of the “meadow,” an open place in the wooded landscape. Both the façade and the plaza are finished with steel grid work that shields them from the sun out of the south, and also serves as a uniform and abstract material for the frame around several trees. (photos by Bas Princen)

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CITY VILLA

House extension and renovation
In collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets

Location: Brussels, BE
Year: 2008–2012
Surface: 480 m²

The center of Brussels has a periphery inside. A piece of landscape, green, open, idyllic, as if it were on the fringes of the city (where it touches the forest) is to be found in the midst of it. This particular condition is easy to destroy. In order to double the surface of a seemingly freestanding house in this strangely lush environment, it was decided to elegantly underline the existence of everything there already was, to celebrate the status quo and to simultaneously make the addition disappear by making it extremely visible, making it, in a sense, the protagonist. The new addition is projected under the existing house, not adding any new volume, but effectively creating its pedestal. The pedestal turns the existing house into an exhibited object: maintained, cleaned and restored—undone of its original importance. The existing house becomes a night house, a ghost house on top of a new, excavated villa. The villa is simultaneously new and old. It is a house designed as a set of different spaces traced by columns. The column rhythm defines plan and sequence: a set of spaces which are not functionally defined. The villa presents itself as a remnant of a house; a set of tectonic elements crating different spatial hierarchies. Sometimes the spaces are open to the sky; sometimes they get their light indirectly. The structure is made of massive concrete beams and columns, measured with maximal tectonic effect. The structure is translated into a spatial idea. Concrete columns become stained wooden columns as soon as one crosses from inside to outside, effectively creating a spatial construct, a spatial sequence of hypothetical places to stay. The villa thus exists in the green island that is maintained by its very existence, a conscious contribution to an urban tissue on the verge of extinction. (photos by Bas Princen)

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LOVELD

Offices and industrial buildings

Location: Loveld, BE
Year: 2009
Status: project

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GARDEN RESIDENCE

Elderly Home
In collaboration with HHF Architects (CH)

Location: Lommel, BE
Year: 2009
Budget: EUR 13 242 000
Surface: 5600 m²
Structural Engineer: Util Structuurstudies, Brussels
Technical Engineer: Studiebureau R. Boydens, Brussels

A care centre is a big house with everything within hand’s reach. It should be designed to provide it’s inhabitants with as much spatial and landscape stimulants, while keeping in mind their limited mobility.

Garden Residence, a care centre with 120 rooms, is designed as an island, framing its surrounding landscape. It offers a set of different spatial qualities while maintaining its natural character. The apartments, organised in 8 groups, are situated in the perimeter of the building, defining its prismatic shape. Two squares within the borders of the building create two inner gardens. The hallways between the flats, their shape defined by the regular square gardens and the irregular outer facade, double as communal spaces for the inhabitants, overlooking the gardens. The centre of the complex, accesible via the gardens, forms the entrance and houses all administrative functions as well as a communal hall.

The organisation of the complex is underlined by its structural concept and materiality. The perimeter of rooms is a solid concrete structure, which insures the necessary thermal mass and stability. The communal spaces are considered as ‘garden rooms’: light wooden additions in close contact with the gardens.

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URBAN VILLA

Apartment complex in Geneva
Project by invitation of Christ & Gantenbein Architekten

Location: En Sully, Geneva, CH
Year: 2010
Surface: 1780 m²

A masterplan by Christ & Gantenbein Architects required different architecture offices to design a housing project in a dense garden-like structure, on a green hill overlooking Lake Geneva,. The master plan has ambiguous intentions: in density it is decidedly urban, in treatment of landscape and building types it tries to answer to the exceptionally loose landscape. The project, an urban villa, incorporates the two desires as mutually reinforcing, as it presents the twelve units in a housing volume that appears bigger than it is. By incorporating an inner court in the body of the house, the building acquires the critical mass it needs to deal with the overpowering landscape. At the same time the court allows for a building with one address without undoing the individual access to each of the units. The diamond-shaped perimeter creates both the structure and the border of the complex, effectively incorporating the patio fence and the terraces. The housing units are organized in a parallel fashion, between patio and outer perimeter, hence maximizing individual privacy and the view to the lake. The rhythm of this perimeter wall is the main elemental architectonic feature of the building.

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WALL

Scenography for a theater play

Locations: Brussels, Ghent (BE) and Douai (FR)
Year: 2010
Budget: EUR 15 000
Surface: 314 m²

When a theater company requested scenery for an outside play called “The Wall” quickly it became clear that both the specificity of the play and the choice of site was forcing some more interesting decisions. Since the play happens around the decor, the wall had to be circular; since the actors were not supposed to enter the walled space, it had to be closed. The main focus was to design an object/intervention that did not look like a cylinder, but like a proper wall. By cutting the top in an oblique way one gets a glimpse of that what one cannot enter. The intervention had to be cheap and was to be constructed by the theater company itself, but had to be durable, since most of the time, in between plays, the wall was simply there without protection. These goals were achieved by using very light, undulating galvanized steel plates, used in two layers in different directions to create a stiff whole. Ultimately, by painting the interior steel plates bright yellow, the interior of the wall, inaccessible as it is, became from afar its protagonist: as a gigantic egg yolk or a sun perhaps. (photos by Bas Princen)

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UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

Location: Ghent, BE
Year: 2010–2014
Surface: 285 m²
Budget: EUR 650 000

Invited competition, 1st prize

The new library for the faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Ghent can be considered a large, pavilion-like piece of furniture, inserted under the balcony of the existing Physics hall. The accessible, three-storied cupboard forms a complete perimeter around the central, atrium-like space, enforcing its monumental scale. Both the lendable collection as well as the more precious books which can only be consulted, are presented visibly around it.

The perimeter of cupboards, realised completely as a bolted construction of prefabricated steel elements, contains passages, stairs, desks and corridors, and organises both the library itself as the access to the multiple back offices and auxiliary functions. A system of vertically sliding, perforated panels allows for the cupboards to be closed off, protecting the collection during lectures and other events, while keeping it visually present.

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GARDEN PAVILION

Installation for the Venice Architecture Biennale of 2010
Project by invitation of Kazuyo Sejima, in collaboration with Bas Princen

Location: Venice, IT
Year: 2010
Surface: 240 m²

Winner of the Silver Lion for most promising young office

In 2010 Kazuo Sejima invited Piet Oudolf to design a beautiful garden at the very end of the Arsenale area of the Venice Biennale,. This intervention made an until then undiscovered building visible: a former ammunition storage on the edge of the newly designed garden. The curator realized the pavilion was too interesting to leave it empty and asked us to present our work in it. The storage facilities are made out of seven separate vaulted rooms, in rather decaying conditions. We invited photographer Bas Princen and decided to make a presentation about our mutual approach and interest in the image and the perspective. The seven rooms of the storage facilities looked like the perfect context for that. What was missing was a mutual connection—like a hallway—between the different rooms, as well as a spatial device to seek for a relation with the garden/park in front of it. The intervention to resolve both issues is as simple as it is effective. A parapet, or porch made out of an elegant white steel structure covered with a reflective silver roof fabric was positioned in front of the existing building. The new structure, placed along the entire length of the house, mirrors the existing pitch roof and thereby extends the existing pavilion with a new external gallery linking the seven rooms together. Under the roof one is not really in the building, not really in the park. Inside each of the seven rooms, a juxtaposition of images of both Office and the photographer Bas Princen are presented side by side on white aluminum plates. They are simply placed against the curved wall and, in each room, start to populate the space. The old depot doors we painted white as well, to make a more elegant entry between inside and outside. Outside, under the parapet, we added equally white chairs to sit and look at the garden. With a simple intervention the former ammunition storage became Garden Pavilion. (photos by Bas Princen)

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AGRICULTURE SCHOOL

Location: Leuven, BE
Year: 2010–2014 (under construction)
Surface: 3 240 m²
Budget: EUR 4 700 000

Selected competition, 1st prize

This agricultural school building is situated on the outskirts of Leuven, overlooking the city from its slightly elevated position in the landscape. The building consists of a linear block of five floors, housing the classrooms and facilities complemented by a horizontal volume—the sport hall—attached to it. The roof of the sport hall forms the playground with an equal volume. The playground lies before the classrooms, effectively working as the entrance to the school complex. This platform cuts through the class volume, marking the entrance to the school and providing a view to the school’s agricultural fields. The main feature of the school is a parallel set of stairs and landings between playground and sports hall on the one hand and the classrooms on the other. This set of stairs makes the main façade of the school building, executed in rough precast concrete, the mediator between all the school activities. The school’s façade is simply standard brick painted white. The entire volume of the school building turns away from the street to align with the orientation of the fields of the schoolyard. As a result the volume of the school makes a set of secondary spaces that provide the bike storage and an entrance ramps to the main premises.
The volume of the school makes a distinct angle with the street and the neighbouring buildings. Through its twisted position it finishes the existing geometric layout of the fields behind, and at the same time, by opening up like a gate, allows for a view over the fields towards the city of Leuven, almost as a staged medieval city portret.

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ARK

Community centre in Tirua, Chile Project by invitation of Pezo & Ellrichshausen

Location: Tirua, Chile Year: 2010–2014 (in building preparation) Surface: 301 m² Budget: EUR 250 000 This community center pavilion, located in the small town of Tirua, is conceived as part of reconstruction efforts following a devastating earthquake in 20010. The pavilion is to serve as a cultural space and landmark for the local Mapuche Indian community. It is an ark, a simple box with surprising content. As a pavilion in the once inundated park, it presents itself as a concrete roof structure; a concrete dome providing a shelter for culture, shelter for activities. The dome structure is crude and basic and is again framed by the square outside perimeter of the box, leaving parabolic openings on each side of the building. A set of big wooden guillotine-like gates close off these openings. The dome in the box makes the cultural landmark of the Mapuche population. On three sides of the building the wooden gates, which are painted in Mapuche colors, provide a lattice from which light filters in. On the fourth side of the box a wooden construction (painted entirely in the fourth color) makes backstage and auxiliary rooms for the pavilion. The cupboard-like construction is a thick version of the other gates on its own, and together with the other gates, is in many ways the concrete dome’s counterpart: a refined wooden structure, elegant and precise, with only wood details. On top of the dome, one finds a hidden garden, only accessible by the public stair in the cupboard, a lookout post, a secret hideaway, and a sudden overview over the Pacific Ocean.

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KUNSTMUSEUM

Extension of the Kunstmuseum in Sankt Gallen

Location: Sankt Gallen, CH
Year: 2011
Surface: 4 200 m²
Budget: EUR 4 700 000

Selected competition, 3rd prize
In collaboration with Bureau Dan Budik

The Kunst Museum in Sankt Gallen has been extended already once, unsuccessfully. This is no surprise, as the architecture of the original building, conceived by Johannes Kunkler, is very demanding and very dominant. It eats its transformations. Against the backdrop of the apparent timelessness of the original museum building, any addition looks like a temporary remark, a remnant of a specific timeframe.
The existing building’s main quality is a rigorous spatial organization. In the tradition of neoclassicism the rooms or spaces define a sequence with different light conditions. The building has (or at least should have) a rigorous vertical stratification. In the context of the extension, the best approach appears to be to copy what is already there. The intervention is extremely simple: when one reproduces underground the typical floor plan of the two existing (and successful) exhibition floors one gets another layer of the vertical stratification with entirely different light conditions.
In order to make this very simple idea possible, some precise interventions are necessary. First, each of the different floors have a specific relationship, through its openings and windows, with light and context. In order to make this also possible in the new underground floor, the projection of the plan is positioned within a rectangular perimeter. This creates a context with a very specific light condition, different from the other two floors but clearly part of the same family. Second, in order to idealize the layout of the existing basement plan under the current building, a very unique structural ceiling was developed. The design takes the existing forces, currently in the middle of the rooms, and diverts them to the walls. The specific but well equilibrated ceiling design gives a subtle identity to each of the museum rooms. This new ceiling mediates structure and—more importantly—the light of each of the rooms. Third, the complete surface of the new floor is significantly lowered. The floor directs and organizes the installations of the new museum floor. The glazed brick floor is at the same time datum, carpet, and technical condition of the enfilade. Fourth, the sequence of spaces thus created is organized through a specifically designed wall/door element.
The New Kunst Museum is an idealized version of the existing one. It presents itself as a stack of three very distinct museum conditions—in terms of light and orientation—within a similar plan. The extension is its new underground pedestal: an invisible museum.

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PASSAGES

Centre for Fashion and Design

Location: Brussels, BE
Year: 2011
Budget: 6 000 000 EUR
Surface: 2839 m²

The location for the new Centre for Fashion & Design is in the centre of a partially gentrified neighbourhood, Dansaert, n the heart of Brussels. This gentrification has a positive effect on the Dansaertstreet itself, but is only partially visible in the surrounding neighbourhood. This unique site for this project gives an opportunity to create a new public passage parallel to the Dansaertstreet, connecting two squares which are now not used to their full potential. This ‘Passage’ becoming the main objective and leitmotif for the design of the Centre.
The Passage is a public street which is cut straight through the building block. At the same time it forms a crucial part of the exposition space, and the access to the main and auxiliary functions of the building. Its simple structure carries both ‘living’ functions of the complex: appartements at the one side, ateliers at the other. Various functions are linked directly to the Passage: the multifunctional auditorium, the material library, and the children’s activities space each connect in their own way to the public exhbition space. The bar is situated close to the most attractive square, oriented towards the centre, and forms a reference point, a mediator between square and passage.

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DRYING HALL

Location: Herselt, BE
Year: 2011–2013 (in building preparation)
Surface: 2 200 m²
Budget: EUR 640 000

This industrial building, part of the infrastructure for a large tree plantation in Brabant, sits in the middle of fields of potted plants of varying scales; its main purpose is a space to dry potted plants twenty-four hours before distribution. This building is the most extreme and simple incarnation of a big box: a building envelope removed from anything even vaguely referring to function—a true building without content. The process for drying plants requires currents of air to enter but meanwhile protection from rain; therefore the building is designed as a perforated perimeter with a closed roof. The perforations give the viewer the impression of an almost nonexisting building, a building through which one can still see the silhouettes of plants temporarily stored, a building that does not land in the ground but floats in space. Its simple geometry—the result of two colliding straight-angled triangles—gives the building multiple appearances from different vantage points. It sometimes appears box-like, sometimes a perforated plane. The interior of this simple yet massive structure is constructed of hybrid laminated wood beams, painted white, and steel columns, whose rhythmic placement sets the spatial experience.

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DER BAU

Location: Brussels, BE
Year: 2012–2015
Surface: 558 m²
Budget: Private

Commission

Der Bau is the project for a villa on the large, secluded site ‘La Garenne’ in the periphery of Brussels. It replaces a mansion from the 1900’s, taking roughly its volume, but undoing the former object from its weight. As a ghost volume it takes its place but offers only a set of relations, with the landscape, with the topography, and internal relations. Different public and private connections with the surrounding landscape are mediated through the set of walls and overhanging floors. Der Bau is an open ordering device, it is an architectural type, partly villa, palazzo, gestalt, partly shelve, set of tables, set of datums, a stack and sequence of reference points.

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OASIS

Location: Sharjah, UAE
Year: 2012–2013 (built)
Surface: 3x 484 m²
Budget: EUR 640 000

In a City where the historical Arabic maze is almost completely destroyed we define a set of Garden Pavilions, in an attempt to fill again what is now Void with Volume, and in an attempt to add Public Space.

This contradiction -to add build volume to create public space- is exactly what this project is about, and can only make sense in the tradition of the arabic city, where the maze, comprised of little streets and blocks, projects any publicness and open space inside the courts of the blocks composing it.

Three Garden Pavilions are thus added as light structures to the three main Sharjah Art Biennial Venues, and redefine the maze at each of these locations. The Pavilions perimeter embraces an Oasis garden and is permeable in deferent degrees depending on its location and publicness.

As light and permeable Pavilions that show glimpses of their lush garden-content, these new structures are contemporary versions of the traditional additions to the old city, where light perimeters were continuously added defining yet another courtyard.

The new Garden Pavilions apply this logic today and smuggle a set of oasis gardens for the public disguised as architecture back into the maze. (photos by Bas Princen)

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DARS

Location: Muharraq, BH
Year: 2012– (under construction)
Surface: 340 + 600 m²
Budget: EUR 600 000 + 800 000

Selected competition, 1st prize

Dar Al Jinaa and Dar Al Riffa are part of a project of urban renewal in Bahrain. Each project consists of both the renovation of an existing Dar (‘house’), and a new, added Majlis (‘collective room’). The Majlis will be used as communal spaces for traditional music performances.

Both buildings consist of a simple structure of round concrete columns and platforms, Rectangular folding glass facades create interior spaces on the platforms. Stairs, sanitary boxes and technical equipments form the ‘furniture’ which makes this simple structure functional. The entire building is covered by a painted steel mesh, providing cover from the harsh desert sun and transforming the buildings into enigmatic, ‘veiled’ objects.

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SOLO

Summer house, Spain
as part of the solo houses building estate

Location: Matarraña, southwest of Barcelona, ES
Surface: 452 m²
Year: 2012
Status: In building preparation

SOLO OFFICE is a country house in a large untouched forest, two hours south of Barcelona. The house will be placed on the edge of a plateau, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Since the surrounding landscape is so impressive, we felt architecture should be invisible, merely emphasizing the natural qualities of the surroundings.
A simple circular roof with a diameter of 40 meters underlines the qualities of both the plateau and its edge. The roof functions as a shelter, and forms the perimeter of the inhabited surface. The roof is held by four straight rows of eight columns, which cut chords from the circular base shape. Only these four areas are inhabited, with variable levels of protection. Large stretches of curtain facade slide on the outer edge of the circle, allowing the living areas to fully open, and providing a maximum relationship between the dweller and the surrounding nature.
Since the terrain is not connected to any services, the house will be completely self-dependent, and therefore energy-neutral. Photovoltaic panels will provide thermic and electrical energy, which will be stocked in buffer tanks. Water is claimed on the site itself, and purified after use.

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KAAI37

Location: Antwerp, BE
Year: 2010–2014 (under construction)
Surface: 1 415 m²
Budget: EUR 1 430 000

Competiton entry in collaboration with Project2, Architecten de Vylder Vinck Taillieu bvba, Meta Architectuurbureau and NoArchitecten, 1st prize

Kaai37 is an apartment building on four levels with 11 units and 2 commercial spaces. The building is a part of a collective design of a building block amongst 4 architecture practices. The project formulates a nuanced answer to the current question of sustainable living, on the edge of the city. The block creates an inner courtyard, providing a space away from the city, while the flush, highly reflective facades facing the water edge of the Escault river engages with its surroundings.

In OFFICE’s building, large cantilevered balconies break up the static, rigorous facade and reference the warehouse typology with projections reaching out towards the water. Generous window openings and double doors between the rooms allow for a great sensation of both volume and flexibility of use.

The project complies with the requirements of Passive house for minimising the energy consumption of future inhabitants.

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BAHRAIN PEARL PATH

Location: Muharraq, BH
Year: 2011– (under construction)
Surface: N/A
Budget: N/A

In collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets

The design for the Bahrain Pearl Path comprises of 18 public squares, of which two have been completed. The small-scale public squares, dotted along the Unesco world heritage ‘Pearling Trail’, are finished and furnished in polished concrete and cooled with a piping system. They will provide punctual microclimates, points of relief and places of interaction for visitors and inhabitants of the former pearl city.

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INCUBATOR

Location: Waregem, BE
Year: 2013–
Surface: 1 800 m²
Budget: EUR 1 400 000

Competition, 1st prize

This building, commissioned by the Provincial Development Company of West-Flanders, will provide rentable working space for four young companies in various fields of work.

The project is a simple and spartan box, demonstrating a refined use of standard industrial building elements such as prefabricated concrete walls, aluminium cladding and steel, cupboard-like office spaces. The four atelier spaces are flanked by a communal meeting room, whose triangular geometry is accentuated by a perspective game.

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COLONNADE, JETTE

Location: Brussels, BE
Year: 2013–
Surface: 2 850 m²
Budget: EUR 4 000 000

The Colonnade project maximises the development potential of a vacant lot in north west Brussels commune Jette. Two distinct elements in the project — Courthouses and Apartment block — are connected and unified by a characteristic two-story high colonnade in polished concrete, which provides access through all the units, and reaches out to the street, providing insight into the lush courtyard.

The courtyard proper allows access to twenty 2 and 3 bedroom houses, the apartment block and commercial space while providing entry to the underground carpark. The courthouses are set back on the ground and third floors to provide private external space for every unit.

The apartment block to the front presents a distinctly urban and ordered facade to the street, behind which a mix of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments are organised. On the ground floor a generous commercial space is situated.

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THE WALL PAVILION

Location: Shenzen, CN
Year: 2012
Surface: N/A
Budget: N/A

Exhibition i.c.w.Bas Princen

The Wall Pavilion is a cylindrical space built out of a thin brick wall. The walls are slightly whitened on the inside. A series of large projections of the Dendera walls, based on photographs taken by Bas Princen, are shown on the inside of the wall. The pavilion wall is tactile but thin and is a conscious obstruction in the exhibition space. The dimensions of the brick pavilion are developed in relationship to the format of the images shown. The projections of the thick walls are opposed in their roughness to the improbable elegance of their carrier, the wall of the pavilion. It reveals the two-faced nature of any perimeter, as it exists as both physical border and concept of hierarchy.

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NEW NCCA

Location: Moscow, RU
Year: 2013
Surface: 46 500 m²
Budget: EUR 95 000 000

In collaboration with 51N4E

The inertia of the contemporary center, in opposition to the flavour of the month, is perhaps its major asset. For that reason our center for Contemporary Art in Moscow does not celebrate the spectacular of Now, a Now that will always be a recent
past - accumulating and showing takes time - but rather tries to create conditions for exposing and archiving that are perfect tools for a metropolitan experience of art: for the fast and the slow, the consistent and the fragmented. Based on this point of
view, our center for contemporary art is seen as a machine for delay. It serves an institution in transition, on its way to become a metropolitan art center.
The NCCA needs to develop a twofold discursivity; with the city and with the public. The spatial set up of the museum can enhance the ways how the museum can perform this discursivity. We see it as a place where city, collection and public can be interwoven; a shared space where artists and public can be active participants and not just passive exposants or consumers.

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ACCO SITE LEUVEN

Location: Leuven, BE
Year: 2014–
Surface: 12 400 m²
Budget: EUR 15 700 000

Selected competition, 1st prize

The development of three parallel blocks inside the ring of Leuven consists of three programs: student housing, adjacent to existing student housing, assisted living residences with associated collective functions and apartments combined with social housing. The volumes are constructed from masonry, each in a different stone color. The facades are rigid yet transparent. Depending on the program there are either indoor or outdoor terraces.

The position of the three building volumes creates collective outdoor spaces that continue in the surrounding area. Also each block has a cutout which allows secondary connections on either a north-south and east-west axis.

In accordance with the city of Leuven the energy rating is higher than the legal obligations. The aspired NZEB-status (Nearly Zero Energy Building) takes both surface loss as energy generation into account. This is expressed in the use of photovoltaic panels in combination with a heat pump with soil drillings. Additionally a central fireplace is provided in each block.

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OFFICE REFURBISHMENT

Location: Kortrijk, BE
Year: 2014–
Surface: 2 050 m²
Budget: EUR 2 800 000

OFFICE 164 is the conversion of an existing office building to a passive example project. It introduces an independent facade around the existing building, which serves both as an architectural element and a technical tool, controlling the distribution of technical installations and natural light. Construction is planned to start in 2016.

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CREMATORIUM POLDERBOS

Masterplan, crematorium

Location: Ostend, BE
Year: 2013
Budget: EUR 3 450 000
Surface: 1 750 m²
Status: Definitive design

Competition, 1st prize. In collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets.

OFFICE, in collaboration with Richard Venlet and Bureau Bas Smets, won the Open Call competition for a new Crematorium in Ostend, Belgium. The project houses 2000 m² of program - a mix of public, administrative and technical functions - in a single story building covered by an inclined roof, dotted by roof lights and abstract shapes. The building seeks a delicate and serene connection with its surroundings and will stand as one of several new landscape elements populating the beautiful polder around Ostend.(photos by Bas Princen)

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SMALL MUSEUM FOR THE AMERICAN METAPHOR

Location: Los Angeles, CA
Year: 2014
Surface: N/A
Budget: N/A

Installation at REDCAT, LA

Small Museum for the American Metaphor is an exhibition which brings together European perspectives on the American West, and more specifically, the particularities embedded in the idealized fictions surrounding it. The visual argument here is that there is a certain architectonic “idea” that dwells on the celebration of Endlessness as mythicized in the American West. The metaphor is the base for an architecture that blurs the distinction between building and object, collapsing the different scales. It is an architecture that celebrates the fiction of the “wide open” and seeks to re-evaluate/reinterpret the world as a gigantic interior. In that context, a successful intervention is able to define hierarchies, carve out places, and make shared points of reference. The exhibition, much in the tradition of showcasing objects in a defined space, such as a cabinet, “collects”artworks, architectural models, drawings and other elements that consciously fade the distinction between object and representation.

Ultimately it is a show on urban strategies, but starting from the conviction that these very strategies can only be conveyed if presented in an oblique way. The show proposes a method that understands beauty and hedonism not so much as the enemy of hierarchy and organization, but despite all senses of responsibility, its driving force.

The exhibition includes works from artists and designers such as John Baldessari, Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys, Stefano Graziani, Rita McBride, Valérie Mannaerts, Jonathan Muecke, Jonathan Olivares, Manfred Pernice, Bas Princen, Ed Ruscha, Ettore Sottsass, Michaël Van den Abeele, Richard Venlet, Pieter Vermeersch, Peter Wächtler and Christopher Williams, as well as models of past and present architectures of the "big box".

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Constructing Worlds

Location: London, UK
Year: 2014
Budget: n/a
Surface: -

Exhibition at The Barbican, London

‘Constructing Worlds’, a key exhibition on the status and influence of photography in our perception of the world, has opened at the Barbican, London. The show brings together the work of twenty photographers, including Berenice Abott, Thomas Struth, Ed Ruscha and Bas Princen. The exhibition was designed by OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen and curated by Alona Pardo and Elias Redstone.

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MANIERA FURNITURE

Location: Brussels, BE
Year: 2014
Surface: N/A
Budget: N/A

For MANIERA, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen conceived a table and a chair. In this way they focus on what is fundamental. The table was designed in collaboration with engineer Arthur de Roover. It is both a very simple design with a clear emphasis on tectonics and an effective piece of engineering. We present 3 prototypes of the table in different kinds of materials and differing dimensions. The chair is a ‘frozen’ version of the walking-stick chair “No.6822”, as designed by Thonet in about 1866, and long out of production. It is a deliberate ‘open’ interpretation of the original, much in the tradition of variations in the turn of the last century (by Adolf Loos and others). Undone from its actual folding mechanism, it becomes a contemplation on surface and structure.

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ARVO PÄRT CENTRE

Location: Laulasmaa, EE
Year: 2014
Surface: 2 035 m²
Budget: N/A

Competition

The new Arvo Pärt Centre, dedicated to the Finnish composer of classical music, is located in a marvellous place near Kellasalu. This elegant, dense stretch of forest is a datum where the silence of nature presents itself to one who engages with it. The centre brings in a set of harmonies related to the site. Symmetrical and loose, it presents a compact way to inhabit this beautiful stretch of nature.
 
The Centre is conceived as a set of rooms of different sizes that are developed in a harmonic system of related measurements. The rooms have increasing length, width and height. The growing and developing plan thus creates a field of closely connected spaces, each with a unique relationship to the surrounding nature and the other rooms close by.

The enclosing wooden walls interrelate with each other and the landscape through a classic system of enfilade openings. On top of the walls a glass surface makes the roof, it relates each of the rooms directly to the sky under the trees. In a framework this ethereal, it is important to measure tenderness and warmth and for that reason the layers between roof and room - beams, velum or also simply closed - creates intimate spaces where one can regress from the direct impact of nature and sky.

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CASERNE DE REUILLY

Location: Paris, FR
Year: 2014–
Surface: 7 800 m²
Budget: EUR 18 000 000

OFFICE, in collaboration with NP2F, has won the restricted competition for renovation and transformation of the Caserne de Reuilly in Paris (lot C). The project consists of a mix of program with a strong focus on housing. The former military site will house 600 units (40.000m2) and the central space transformed into a public garden.

The buildings of the caserne de Reuilly stand alone. Detached from each other, they express a relative dignity and provide a strong common vision. Today the overall architecture creates an unreachable urban “machine”, protected by a wall.

Now dedicated to welcome Parisians, the caserne must become a porous place in the city. The project developed by NP2F and OFFICE proposes the creation of different
volumes, independent of the existing building. These new constructions slip gently in the existing voids, remaining at close distance, and thus allow visual connection from the city ​​towards the garden.

The project forms a complex piece of city where every building has its own characteristics while sharing a common language. The different volumes therefore are engage in a dialogue with each other, the garden and the city that surround them and provide a strong transition between public space and private space. Visible from the street the caserne will now be a breathing space in the heart of the city.

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'RTS Champ Continu', LAUSANNE

Location: Lausanne, CH
Year: 2014-... (preliminary design)
Surface: 34 920 m²
Budget: EUR 82 630 390

Selected competition, 1st prize

A continuous field for RTS

A field of opportunities, organised by precise production machinery.The new building for the RTS is positioned in the heart of the double campus of EPFL and UNIL. It will function as a ‘hinge’ between the two campuses, as well as between fields of eduction and research, and between classical broadcasting and contemporary media.The project consists of four separate volumes, supporting a disc-like volume suspended 7 meters above ground.
The volumes include a television studio, a radio studio, a media library and the RTS’s administration, while the suspended volume contains the different redactions and broadcast studios, organised as a ‘field’ of landscape offices. On the ground floor, a glass wall connecting the 4 supporting volumes create a public foyer, connecting the different entrances of the RTS.
The redactions, heart of the production of RTS, are conceived as a field, lighted from above by the industrial-like shed roof. The protruding volumes, the major supporting beams, as well as a system of patio’s organise its contents, creating more or less separate zones within the field. The field is a ‘chipboard’, allowing for various and unlimited ways of collaboration between the different redactions, endlessly adaptable to the ever-changing world of media.

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07.07.2016
PUBLICATION
EL CROQUIS N. 185

We are very proud to present El Croquis N.185 on OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen! The issue titled ‘Primary Actions’ features 32 projects spanning the period from 2003 until 2016, as well as an essay by Juan Antonio Cortes and an interview with Enrique Walker. The issue is available in print and digital edition from the El Croquis website, and will be distributed in stores world wide shortly.

Publication: El Croquis N. 185: OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen - 2003-2016 - ‘Primary actions’
Semi-hard cover, 262 pages, 9.5 x 13.5 in - 67 oz
ISBN: 978-84-88386-90-8

23.06.2016
OFFICE 126: DAR AL JINAA
PROJECT COMPLETED AND OPENED

Dar Al Jinaa, one of two centres of traditional music OFFICE designed and built in the old city of Bahrain, has been completed and festively opened. The project, which consists of a ‘Majlis’ (‘collective room’) added to an existing community centre called a ‘dar’ (‘house’), will give a public face to the ancient community of pearl fishers, who will use the building for music performances. The simple structure of concrete columns and floor plates is ‘veiled’ by a fine steel mesh, which functions as a solar protection, and can be lifted to allow by-passers a look inside when the building is in use.

29.05.2016
FINISSAGE 'EVERYTHING ARCHITECTURE'
BOZAR, BRUSSELS

You are cordially invited to the finissage of our exhibition 'Everything Architecture', Sunday 29th of May at 16h in the Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels. A small event will be held to mark the end of this exhibition, an important milestone in OFFICE's history. For the occasion, an extra 50 copies of 'OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen: Volume 2' will be for sale. There will also be a small presentation of two new publications (see below). The exhibition will be open for visits until 18h.

27.05.20
2 PUBLICATIONS BY FORM
THE DIFFICULT WHOLE / METROPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE

We are proud to announce two new publications edited by The Laboratory of Architecture as Form (FORM), Kersten Geers' studio at the EPFL in Lausanne. 'The Difficult Whole: A Reference Book on the Work of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown', will be published by Park Books, and available in architecture book stores soon. 'Metropolitan Architecture' is the seventeenth part of the 'Architecture Without Content'-series. Both publications have been designed by graphic designer Joris Kritis, and will be presented on the finissage of 'Everything Architecture' (see above).

27.05.2016
EXHIBITION: 'BRAVOURE'
BELGIAN PAVILION, VENICE BIENNIAL

OFFICE is proud to be a part of the 'Bravoure' exhibition which has opened on May 26th at the Belgian Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2016 in Venice. The exhibition, curated by architecten de vylder vinck taillieu, doorzon interieurarchitecten and architect-photographer Filip Dujardin, focuses on the idea of 'craftmanship' in architecture. OFFICE 39: Villa Buggenhout is featured in this light.
The Belgian pavilion will also be actively used for events during the biennale. Friday 27th, between 15h and 17h, a conversation is planned with authors and contributors of recent books and magazines coming out of Flanders and Brussels, among which also our own monograph 'OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen: Volume 2'. Kersten Geers will be present to take part.

Exhibition: 'Bravoure', Belgian Pavilion, Giardini, Venice. 28.05.2016, 10:00 until 27.11.2016, 18:00
Conversation: Books on Architecture from Flanders and Brussels. Friday, 27 May 2016, 15.00 – 17.00 hrs

20.04.2016
EXHIBITION AT ETH ZURICH
DRAWINGS BY OFFICE

The exhibition ‘Drawings by OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen' is currently on display at the ETH Zürich.

“Drawings and collages play a central role in the work of architects Kersten Geers and David Van Severen. In a unique digital visual language dominated by pastel colors, they produce an oeuvre that goes beyond the conventional uses of the architectural drawing for representation and planning purposes. The drawings and collages form an independent body of work presented and treated for the first time in a solo show at a major institution in this exhibition. Presented in contrast to the John Hejduk’s drawings, they show a contemporary approach to the medium of architectural drawing.”

Location: ‘Drawings by OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen', gta exhibition, HIL building, campus Hönggerbergh, ETH Zürich.
Date: Thursday, April 21, 2016 to Friday, May 20, 2016 Mon-Fri 10-18, closed on weekends and holidays

24.03.2016
BOOK LAUNCH
OFFICE KERSTEN GEERS DAVID VAN SEVEREN — VOLUME 2

Our new publication 'OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen — Volume 2' will be officially presented in BOZAR – Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, this Thursday 24/3 at 19:00.

Volume 2 is the second volume of an oeuvre catalogue in the making. It shows in a systematic, chronological way the projects between OFFICE56 and OFFICE130. This overview is complemented by photographs of Bas Princen and Stefano Graziani, photographers with whom OFFICE has a long-standing collaboration.

The book is introduced by an essay by Christophe Van Gerrewey, and was designed by Joris Kritis. It will be published by Verlag Der Buchhandlung Walther König, and is available in a limited edition on the occasion of the exhibition ‘OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen. Everything Architecture’, currently on display in BOZAR, for which it acts as its de facto catalogue. Volumes 1 and 3 will be published in October, accompanying the exhibition traveling to AA in London and Arc-en-Rêve in Bordeaux.

To celebrate its advent, there will be a small event hosted by BOZAR, in which Bas Princen, Joris Kritis, Bart Verschaffel and ourselves will introduce the publication. The event is free but registration via BOZAR is mandatory.

— Book Launch 'OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen — Volume 2' at BOZAR – Centre for Fine Arts (Brussels), 24/3, 19:00 until 21:00. Registration is free but required via this link.
— The exhibition 'Everything Architecture' will be open until 21:00, as part of the BOZAR Nocturne. Tickets are required and available at the desk or online.
— The book will initially be available at the book shop in Bozar, and will be distributed internationally by Wather König.

03.03.2016
OFFICE RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION
'EVERYTHING ARCHITECTURE'

OFFICE's retrospective 'Everything Architecture' will open at Bozar on March 3rd. The exhibition will feature more then 50 projects and 25 collected art pieces.

The point of departure for the exhibition is the idea that each of the products of OFFICE is considered a project in itself. Models, drawings and perspectives are will populate the antechambers of the Centre for Fine Arts as individual objects, together with works of art that are related to the spirit and language of OFFICE. In this field of objects, sculptures are considered as compagnons de route to the architectural production. Paintings and photo's enforce or break the different antechamber perspectives and search for dialogue.

The official opening on March 3rd will be preceded by a lecture by Geers and Van Severen in Zaal M of the Bozar complex. Tickets are available via Bozar.

The exhibition catalogue — in collaboration with graphic designer Joris Kritis — will be presented on March 24th and published/distributed by Walter König.

Exhibition: 'Everything Architecture', March 04 until May 29, 2016, Bozar, Brussels
Lecture: March 3rd, 19:00, Zaal M, Bozar. Tickets available here.
Book launch: March 24th, Bozar, Brussels

27.01.2016
OFFICE 184: VRT COMPETITION
DOCUMENTARY AND EXHIBITION

The competition proposal by OFFICE in collaboration with KCAP for the new Flemish Radio & Television (VRT) headquarters can be seen both in a documentary and a small exhibition.

Through the Open Call of the Vlaams Bouwmeester, five design teams — OFFICE & KCAP, OMA, Robbrecht & Daem, Christian Kerez and architecten de vylder vinck taillieu) were invited to submit a proposal for a new building for the VRT in Brussels. Until February 29 the resulting proposals and their 1/100 models are exhibited in the Atelier Bouwmeester, where one can see the models of the other four competitors.

Canvas has broadcasted the program series 'Reyers 2020', which provides further insight into the design and methods of OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen and the other teams. The series can be seen online via the link below.

Exhibition: Expo VRT at 'Atelier Bouwmeester', Galerie Ravenstein 54-59, Brussels. January 27 until February 29, 2016
Documentary: Reyers 2020: OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen - KCAP (Canvas)

26.01.2016
OFFICE WINS 'ART PRIZE BERLIN 2016'
The jury for the 'Berlin Art Prize–Jubilee Foundation 1848/1948' has selected OFFICE as the recipient of the Berlin Art Prize - Architecture 2016. Founded in 1948 by the State of Berlin, The Prize is awarded by the Akademie der Künste and consists of one Grand Prize and six Art Prizes in the fields of fine arts, architecture, music, literature, performing arts as well as film and media art. More information: here.

25.01.2016
OFFICE 195: PACO RABANNE
FLAGSHIP STORE OPENED IN PARIS

Fashion house Paco Rabanne has opened its new flagship store on Rue Cambon in Paris. Creative Director Julien Dossena contracted OFFICE to design the first in a series of new stores, as a step in the new identity of the brand. The compact shop consists of two rooms, defined by intricately designed perimeters of aluminium panels, which can be opened to reveal shelving, display cabinets, or seating. The leather flooring adds to to the atmosphere of refined luxury.

Location: 123 Rue Cambon, Paris
More information via Paco Rabanne

15.12.2015
OFFICE 78 LIBRARY WINS
BELGIAN PRIZE FOR ARCHITECTURE 2015

OFFICE 78, the new Architecture Library of the University of Ghent, has been awarded a Belgian Prize for Architecture. The prestigious bi-annual Belgian Prizes for Architecture & Energy were awarded on the 15th of December in the Art & Design Atomium Museum in Brussels. The international jury panel comprising Lone Wiggers (DK), Ricardo Bak Gordon (PT) en Stephen Bates (UK) has selected OFFICE as the winner out of 31 projects selected in its category.

"The project formulates a delicate and intelligent answer to a complex programme, based on a single idea. It adds atmosphere and modernity to the existing character of the hall, without compromising the architectural continuity of the whole." (A+ 257)

More information: Official press release

12.10.2015
EXHIBITION 'THE WONDER YEARS'

Several models by OFFICE will be on display at the exhibition 'De Wonderjaren' in the cultural centre of Knokke-Heist. The exhibition, organized by the Flemish Institute of Architecture, aims to give an overview of the Flemish architectural production of the last 30 years.

Exhibition: 'De Wonderjaren. 30 jaar architectuur in Vlaanderen'. Cultural Centre Scharpoord, Knokke-Heist, BE. Oct 25th until Jan 10th 2016, open daily, free admission.

11.10.2015
OFFICE 164: OFFICE BUILDING
BUILDING PERMIT SUBMITTED

OFFICE 164 is the conversion of an existing office building to a passive example project. It introduces an independent facade around the existing building, which serves both as an architectural element and a technical tool, controlling the distribution of technical installations and natural light. Construction is planned to start in 2016.

08.10.2015
EXHIBITION FRAC ORLEANS

OFFICE’s and Dogma’s project ‘A Grammar for the City’ will feature in the collective ‘Allures’ exhibition cycle at the Galerie des Turbulences, FRAC, Orléans, from Oct 8 until February 21st, 2016.

03.10.2015
INSTALLATION CHICAGO BIENNIAL

Together with Bas Princen, OFFICE designed 'Model for a Pavilion (Thinkbelt)' for the first Chicago Architecture Biennial, curated by Sarah Herda and Joseph Grima. The installation presents a series of images of the site of Cedrec Price's iconic but never realised project 'Potteries Thinkbelt'. It is another incarnation of an ongoing investigation Bas Princen and OFFICE embarked on, in which the limits of both architectural materialisation and photographic illusion are tested. To achieve this we show some of the photographs of the Thinkbelt series printed at ‘life scale’.

Dates: October 3, 2015—January 3, 2016
Link: http://chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org/

30.09.2015
BOOK FOR ARCHITECTS

A collection of OFFICE's architecture books, all designed by Joris Kritis, is on show at 'Book for Architects' at the ETH Zurich, curated by Fredi Fischli, Andri Gerber and Niels Olsen. Joris Kritis' direct and radical design manages to translate the core of both the OFFICE work, as the work created by students at the different studios run by OFFICE without OFFICE, and the Laboratory for Architecture as Form.

Exhibition: Book For Architects, ETH Zurich, Hönggerberg, HIL, gta exhibitions. Sep 30 to Dec 4th 2015, Mon-Fri 10-18, closed on weekends and holidays.
Most publications available at the FORM shop.

16.09.2015
CURATING INTERIEUR 2016

OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen have been appointed curators of the 25th edition of Biennale Interieur. In close collaboration with artist Richard Venlet and graphic designer Joris Kritis, they will create a strong architectural envelope in and around the exhibition halls of Kortrijk Xpo.

14.09.2015
LECTURE: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Kersten Geers and David Van Severen will give a lecture on recent projects at Columbia University, as part of the Architecture department’s ‘Core Event’ Series. Wood Auditorium, Columbia University. Monday, September 14, 2015 6:30pm. More information here.

12.09.2015
AN AFTERNOON OF IMPUNITY
DISCUSSION AT THE CCA, MONTREAL

As one of the guest curators of the series 'Out of the Box: Ábalos & Herreros’, OFFICE will discuss with Spanish architects Iñaki Ábalos and Juan Herreros, exploring the notion of their recently donated archive in architecture. Sept 12th, CCA, Montreal. Free admission after RSVP. More information here.

09.09.2015
EXHIBITION: PALLADIAN DESIGN
RIBA, LONDON

OFFICE’s project ’25 Rooms’ (Ordos, 2008) is featured at the exhibition ‘Palladian Design: the good, the bad and the unexpected’ at RIBA, London. The exhibition investigates the relevance of the Renaissance architect today. The exhibition will open on Sept 9th and run until Jan 9th 2016.

20.08.2015
OFFICE 152: INCUBATOR
BUILDING PERMIT REQUESTED

The request for a building permit for the ‘Starter’s Centre’ in Waregem has been submitted to local authorities. The building, commissioned by the Provincial Development Company of West-Flanders (POM), will provide rentable working space for four young companies in various fields of work. The project is a simple and spartan box, demonstrating a refined use of standard industrial building elements such as prefabricated concrete walls and aluminium gates.

17.08.2015
ART MILL, QATAR
OFFICE LONG-LISTED

OFFICE has been long-listed to submit a design the international competition for the ‘Art Mill’ in Doha, Qatar. OFFICE’s application was chosen as one of 26 out of a total of 489 entries for the 80 000 m² project, which envisions the redevelopment of a historic waterfront site in the centre of Doha. More information on the competition website.

01.07.2015
OFFICE 131: KAAI37
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Construction has started on ‘Kaai37’, the development of a housing block on Antwerps harbour quarter ’t Eilandje’. The project, a collaboration between OFFICE and PROJECT², advvt, Meta and NoA was commissioned after a competition in 2012. The project formulates a nuanced answer to the current question of sustainable living, on the edge of the city. More information: Kaai37, Project2.

11.06.2015
EXHIBITION: MANIERA AT DESIGN MIAMI / BASEL
"THE DIFFICULT DUO"

Maniera furniture will be presented at Art Miami / Basel.
OFFICE i.c.w. Richard Venlet has been commissioned by MANIERA to conceive an architectural installation.

Exhibition: Maniera at Design Miami / Basel
Date: June 15 – 21
Location: Messe Basel, Hall 1 Süd, booth C04, Basel, CH

07.05.2015
EXHIBITION: CAMPUS RTS
12 – 30 APRIL 2015 AT EPFL, LAUSANNE, CH

The exhibition is designed to give more insight into the future of Campus RTS and the project by OFFICE. Two competition models will be on display. The exhibition will commence with a presentation on Tuesday, May 12 at noon in the presence of:

Gilles Marchand, Director of RTS
Dominique Arlettaz, Rector of l’UNIL
André Schneider, Vice-president for resources and infrastructures, EPFL
Kersten Geers, Architect - winner of the competition
David Van Severen, Architect - winner of the competition
Luca Ortelli, President of the jury of the architectural competition

Exhibition: 'Campus RTS – Constructing Media Of Tomorrow'
Date: 12 May to 17 May 2015
Location: Archizoom, EPFL, Lausanne

— More information about the exhibition at Archizoom website

27.04.2015
PUBLICATION: 'ARCHITECTURE WITHOUT CONTENT'
AVAILABLE IN BOOKSTORES IN MAY

Architecture Without Content is architecture reduced to its very perimeter. Only the economy of the envelope determines the success of the building. Its radical frugality does not make it less critical. Economy of means is the weapon of choice to express its ideology. Architecture Without Content finds its roots in the Big Box. Architecture Without Content is too big to ignore.

This set of five studio reports is a re-edition of the original booklets, made to conclude each of the studios which were held between 2011 and 2013 at Columbia University, Accademia di Architettura Mendrisio, TU Graz and EPFL.

Architecture Without Content consists of five volumes:

1 The Big Box
2 Contemporary Monuments
3 The Urban Paradox
4 Necessary Architecture
5 Places of Accumulation

Contributions from Kersten Geers, Joris Kritis,
Jelena Pancevac, Giovanni Piovene, Dries Rodet, Andrea Zanderigo

Publisher: Bedford Press

April 2015, English
29.7 x 21 cm, Five vols, 256 pages combined, colour ills
Softcover
ISBN 978-1-907414-41-1

27.04.2015
EXHIBITION: MANIERA 01, 02, 03, 04 & INTERLUDE 01
14 – 19 APRIL 2015

The first group show of the latest Maniera furniture at Palazzo Clerici has just finished.
The furniture of OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen & Studio Anne Holtrop (Maniera 1 & 2) was presented together with pieces by Christoph Hefti and Richard Venlet with 6A Architects who will present Maniera 3 & 4 at Hotel Wolfers, in Brussels, 24 April.

Photo by DSL studio
More information: Maniera

Exhibition: Fuorisalone 2015
Location: Palazzo Clerici
Via Clerici, 5, 20121 Milano, IT

27.04.2015
STUDIO: BOXES FOR AMERICA
FINAL REVIEW IN MAY

The studio 'Boxes for America' at the GSD in Harvard, the 13th incarnation of Architecture Without Content, is close to its end. The final review will take place on May 6th. Rita McBride, Bas Princen, Enrique Walker and Mark Lee will make the jury.

27.04.2015
OFFICE 174: CASERNE DE REUILLY, PARIS

OFFICE, in collaboration with NP2F, is adding 120 units to the former military site in the centre of Paris.
The site will eventually house 40 000 m² of program with a focus on housing.

Location: Paris, FR

27.04.2015
EXHIBITION: CONSTRUCTING WORLDS
ARKDES, STOCKHOLM

The exhibition – initially designed by OFFICE for the Barbican show curated by Elias Redstone and Alona Pardo – has begun its second life in ArkDes in Stockholm. The second incarnation has been redesigned by OFFICE and appropriated for the new location. The theme remains 'Constructing Worlds', which brings together the works of 18 photographers from the 1930s and up to modern times, all of whom have changed the way we look at the architecture and the way we perceive the world.

Photo by Anders Persson
Exhibition: 'Constructing Worlds–Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age'
Date: 20 February 17 May 2015
Location: The Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design, ArkDes, Stockholm

27.04.2015
OFFICE 163: ACCO SITE, LEUVEN
BUILDING PERMIT SUBMITTED

The design of the housing complex in Leuven has entered its final stage with the building permit dossier now handed in. The project, being developed for Project², will feature 12 500 m² of apartments, student housing and care units. The three buildings have been designed rather as a part of a coherent family of volumes that is carefully shaped at the edges in relation to their immediate surroundings. The complex creates an important connection through the existing urban block.

Location: Leuven, BE
More information: Project²

27.04.2015
OFFICE 126: TWO DOOR, BAHRAIN

The structure of both Door, three floors high, has been erected and awaits the metal mesh skin that will complete their form.

Dar Al Jinaa and Dar Al Riffa are both part of a project of urban renewal in Bahrain. Each project consists of both the renovation of an existing Dar (‘house’), and a new, added Majlis (‘collective room’). The Majlis will be used as communal spaces for performances of traditional music of the pearl divers and will thus complete the existing Door.

Location: Muharrak and Riffa, BH

27.04.2015
OFFICE 176: CAMPUS RTS, LAUSANNE
START-UP PRELIMINARY DESIGN

'RTS Champ Continu', the project for the new building for Radio Télévision Suisse in Lausanne, is starting up. After having won the competition last year followed by an intense period of organising the team, OFFICE is now ready to commence the Preliminary Design Stage.

Location: EPFL/UNIL campus in Lausanne, CH

27.04.2015
OFFICE 130: SOLO HOUSE, MATARRAÑA
The circular concrete roof with a diameter of 45 meters has been placed on top of four rows of steel columns. Construction will now continue with sealing the building envelopes, and is expected to finish in summer 2015.

Location: Matarraña, ES
More information: Solo Houses

27.04.2015
OFFICE 119: DER BAU, LINKEBEEK

'Der Bau' - a villa in the green belt around Brussels - is close to completion, with final touches taking place.
Painting and staining of different wooden elements is foreseen during the summer.

Location: Linkebeek, Brussels, BE

27.04.2015
OFFICE 78: LIBRARY, GHENT

After the unpacking of the 'Bekaert Collection' and opening ceremony, the library of the Faculty of Architecture in Ghent, housing the largest collection of architecture books in Belgium, is now open to the public.

Photo by Bas Princen
Location: University of Ghent, Ghent, BE

26.03.2015
PUBLICATION: GO HASEGAWA
CONVERSATIONS WITH EUROPEAN ARCHITECTS

OFFICE is featured in Go Hasegawa's recent publication. Publisher Lixil, 276 p, ills colour & bw, 19 x 26 cm, pb, Japanese/English, ISBN 9784864800167, Idea Code 15185.

26.03.2015
OFFICE PART OF ‘STADBUITENSTAD’ EXHIBITION

OFFICE 56 ‘Weekend House’ in Merchtem is featured in the exhibition ‘StadBuitenStad’ in deSingel, Antwerp

Exhibition: 'StadBuitenStad'
Date: 27 February until 07 June 2015
Location: deSingel, Antwerp, BE

12.03.2015
EXHIBITION: INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECTURE
12.03-17.05.2015 at CCA, MONTREAL, CA

Today, 'Industrial Architecture' has opened at the CCA in Montreal. The exhibition on the work of legendary Spanish office Ábalos & Herreros was curated by OFFICE. It is the first in a series of three shows entitled 'Out of the Box', on recently acquired archives, curated and manipulated by contemporary voices. Mirko Zardi and Giovanna Borassi selected OFFICE together with Juan José Castellón (Zurich) and SO-IL (New York) to give a fresh perspective on the work of this key office. The series will be finished by an open debate between the curators/architects and Abalos and Herreros themselves mid September, also at the CCA.

Exhibition: 'Industrial Architecture: Ábalos & Herreros selected by OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen'
Date: 12 March to 17 May 2015
Location: Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA), Montreal, CA

— More information at the 'CCA website'
— Review in 'DOMUS' magazine

28.01.2015
RTS COMPETITION RESULTS EXHIBITION
11.02-17.02.2015 IN LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen has won the commission for the new building of Radio Télévision Suisse, at the EPFL/UNIL campus in Lausanne, Switzerland. OFFICE's design, entitled 'RTS Champ Continu', was chosen as the winner out of 8 proposals, from offices (part of this exhibition) such as Lacaton et Vassal, Bernard Tschumi, Diller Scofidio and EM2N Mathias Müller, amongst others.

More information:
— General information and opening hours 'Exposition des résultats du concours'
— Contact at OFFICE: press@officekgdvs.com, +32 (0)2 503 05 71
— Contact at RTS: Pascal Crittin, +41 (0)58 236 60 30

01.01.2015
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

OFFICE WISHES YOU ALL THE BEST FOR 2015

Photo: OFFICE 130 – Solo House, Matarraña, Spain

21.11.2014
OFFICE IS MOVING!

From December 1st, our address will be: 251 Avenue Louise, B-1050 Brussels. Please note that moving will take a week (November 24 - 28) and during this time we will have limited phone and e-mail access.

19.11.2014
OFFICE NOMINATED FOR MVDR AWARD

'Belvedere Walraevens', the new building of the agriculture school 'De Wijnpers' in Leuven, has been nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award 2015. The building, a result of the 2011 open call competition, is in use since this semester. More information: here.

13.11.2014
CASERNE DE REUILLY, PARIS
COMMISSION I.C.W. NP2F

OFFICE and NP2F have won the restricted competition for renovation and transformation of 'Lot C' of the Caserne de Reuilly in Paris. The former military site will house 600 units and a central public garden. Our project will create 120 units, divided between 3 new buildings and an existing one.

The 10 000 m² project focuses on the relation between the existing and the new, emphasising on the overall consistency of the architecture and the specific conditions created by the operation. The project seeks a subtle yet straightforward relationship with the heritage building.

05.11.2014
MOVING THE LIBRARY

A team of librarians and students are currently moving the complete collection of the faculty of Architecture and Engineering of Ghent University — containing more than 13,000 volumes — to its new home. The new library, designed and constructed by OFFICE as a large steel cupboard in a former lecture hall, will be opened on the 18th of December.

30.10.2014
OFFICE SHORTLISTED FOR NEW VRT (FLEMISH RADIO AND TELEVISION)

OFFICE, together with KCAP Architects&Planners, was selected to participate in the Open Call competition for the new VRT Headquarters in Brussels. Ambitions are high for the new 55,000 m2 complex, which will house 2,200 employees, and should function as a modern, compact and inviting campus. The competition will run from Dec 1st until April 2015. More information: OO2801 Brussel

30.10.2014
OFFICE WINS NEW RTS COMPETITION
IN LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen has won the commission for the new building of Radio Télévision Suisse, at the EPFL/UNIL campus in Lausanne, Switzerland. OFFICE's design, entitled 'RTS Champ Continu', was chosen as the winner out of 8 proposals, from offices such as Lacaton et Vassal, Bernard Tschumi, Diller Scofidio and EM2N Mathias Müller, amongst others.

From the RTS press release:

After five months of study, the International College of Experts, composed of ten members, supported by a dozen specialists and chaired by architect and professor Luca Ortelli, have selected young Belgian architects OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen to realise the future building for RTS on the campus of the EPFL.

‘The winning project stood out from other projects,’ Luca Ortelli, chair of the jury, explains, ‘by its very original form and spatial invention, that reflect and identify the various activities of RTS (redaction, production, distribution, etc.), as well as many components open to the public (major radio and television studios, restaurant, media library). The winning project fits perfectly into its context in the vicinity of the Rolex Learning Center, taking into account the existing and future buildings on campus, while forming a hinge between the EPFL and neighbouring UNIL campuses.’

According to Gilles Marchand, director of RTS, ‘the original and modern building meets all the requirements for a good collaboration between newsrooms, radio, television and multimedia. Its design offers great flexibility in the organisation of work spaces and is an adequate response to the evolution of media. Finally, the site provides stimulating relationships between RTS and its audience and of course, the students and professors on campus.’

The 35,000 m² complex is planned to open in 2019.

Competition team: OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, i.c.w. Bureau Bas Smets (landscape), Bollinger+Grohmann (structural engineer), Transsolar Klimaengineering (climatic concept), AAB J. Stryejenski & H. Monti SA (acoustics), Henk Pijpaert Engineering (MEP engineering), Bureau Bouwtechniek (cost control)

More information:
— Official 'Communiqué de presse' by RTS
— Contact at OFFICE: press@officekgdvs.com, +32 (0)2 503 05 71
— Contact at RTS: Pascal Crittin, +41 (0)58 236 60 30

Photo: © RTS/Philippe Christin

20.10.2014
ARCHITECTURE WITHOUT CONTENT
STUDIO PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE

The semester booklets of the different studios 'Architecture Without Content' at the EPFL Lausanne, Columbia University NY, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology are now available for order through the EPFL's website.

17.10.2014
SHORTLISTED FOR ICON AWARD
'Prototypes', the series of 3 tables and a chair that OFFICE designed for MANIERA, was shortlisted as 'Furniture design of the year' for this year's Icon awards. The winners will be announced at a ceremony on 4 December at St Mary’s Church in Marylebone, London. More information on the Icon Awards and Maniera. Photo by Sven Laurent.

27.09.2014
EXHIBITION: REDCAT GALLERY, LA
A SMALL MUSEUM FOR THE AMERICAN METAPHOR

Currently the exhibition 'A Small Museum for the American Metaphor' ison show at REDCAT gallery in downtown Los Angeles. For this show director Ruth Estevez invited Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen to show the mental universe of their architectural production. The exhibition, curated by OFFICE and Ruth Estevez, brings together the work of various artists who continue to influence OFFICE's work such as Christopher Williams and Rita McBride, but also Koenraad Dedobbeleer, Harald Thys, Jos de Gruyter and Pieter Vermeersch. The show also displays different architectonic models and drawings by OFFICE, as well as by the students of recent studios and workshops. The mise-en-scene was designed by OFFICE.

Exhibition: 'A small museum for the American Metaphor', REDCAT Gallery, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles.
From September 27 until January 11. Opening reception: Saturday, September 27, 6–9pm. Lecture by Kersten Geers at 4pm.

25.09.2014
CONSTRUCTING WORLDS
EXHIBITION AT THE BARBICAN, LONDON

'Constructing Worlds', a key exhibition on the status and influence of photography in our perception of the world, has opened at the Barbican, London. The show brings together the work of twenty photographers, including Berenice Abott, Thomas Struth, Ed Ruscha and Bas Princen. The exhibition was designed by OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen and curated by Alona Pardo and Elias Redstone.

Exhibition: 'Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age', 25 September 2014 - 11 January 2015.
Location: Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, London (UK)

20.09.2014
EXHIBITION: GRAND HORNU, MONS
WALL FOR A PAINTING FLOOR FOR A SCULPTURE

Last saturday, the OFFICE installation 'Wall for a painting, floor for a sculpture' (quoting Paul Robbrecht), featuring work by Muller Van Severen and Dan Van Severen, was opened as part of the 'Labo des Héritiers'-exhbition at Le Grand Hornu in Mons. The installation is part of the 'Labo des héritiers' exhibition which focuses on the work of the descendants of great designers, architects and artists.

Exhibition: Le Labo Des Héritiers, Sept 21, 2014 — Jan 4, 2015
Location: Grand Hornu, Mons

27.07.2014
WORKSHOP: ROMAN ARCHITECTURE
Results of the workshop by OFFICE called 'Roman Architecture', at the Porto Academy '14, were presented at the Faculty of Architecture in Porto University. The programme also included a sold-out lecture on Sunday 27th.

More information at the website of the Porto Academy '14.

24.07.2014
OFFICE 165: CREMATORIUM, OSTEND
COMPETITION, 1ST PRIZE

OFFICE, in collaboration with Richard Venlet and Bureau Bas Smets, has won the Open Call competion for a new Crematorium in Ostend, Belgium.

The project houses 2000 m² of program - a mix of public, administrative and technical functions - in a single story building covered by an inclined roof, dotted by roof lights and abstract shapes. The building seeks a delicate and serene connection with its surroundings and will stand as one of several new landscape elements populating the beautiful polder around Ostend.

More information on the competition here.

20.07.2014
OFFICE 168: CONSTRUCTING WORLDS
SCENOGRAPHY AT THE BARBICAN

OFFICE designed the scenography for the upcoming Barbican exhibition 'Constructing Worlds'. The show, curated by Alona Pardo and Elias Redstone, will feature the work of 18 contemporary photographers working in close relation to architecture and the city. Works of Bas Princen will also be featured.

Exhibition: 'Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age', 25 September 2014 - 11 January 2015.
Location: Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, London (UK)

14.07.2014
OFFICE 125: ATELIER LEROOY

The Atelier for Artist Thomas Lerooy has been completed. The project is a sequence of widening glazed spaces, set in an existing industrial structure to the rear of a plot in Brussels.

Photo by Hugard & Vanoverschelde photography — HV-studio.be

30.06.2014
OFFICE 171: ARVO PART CENTRE
COMPETITION: HONORABLE MENTION

OFFICE received an Honorable Mention for its radical yet subtle proposal entitled ‘A House Has Many Rooms’ in the invited international competition for the Arvo Pärt Centre.

Nestled in the dense pine forests of Estonia, the building is conceived as a set of rooms that are developed in a harmonic system of related measurements, as an echo to the music of the composer Arvo Pärt. The enclosing massive wooden walls interrelate with each other and the landscape through a classical system of openings.

All competition projects can be seen here.

29.06.2014
OFFICE 117: DRYING HALL
PRIX PHILIPPE ROTTHIER

OFFICE 117 Drying Hall has received an Honourable Mention in this years Prix Philippe Rotthier. This triennial award rewards works of collective and cultural value with regional roots and using natural and sustainable materials that draws on the genius of the European town and a dialogue with the past and with history. This year in its tenth iteration the chosen theme was "Architecture & Landscape".

See all the winning projects here.

24.06.2014
OFFICE 155: COLONNADE, BRUSSELS
IN BUILDING PREPARATION

The housing project 'Colonnade' has entered the final stage of design, with the building permit dossier handed in. The project, which is being developed for Project², will feature ten apartments and twenty courtyard houses organised around a central colonnade, which stretches as a central void towards the street, and functions as the unifying architectural element.

More information: Project²

06.06.2014
OFFICE 90: AGRICULTURE SCHOOL OPENED

The Agriculture School 'De Wijnpers' has been festively opened on June 6th, with an afternoon of speeches, building tours and a football tournament between the different stakeholders in the project. The opening concludes a project which has been in development since OFFICE won the Open Oproep-competition in the beginning of 2011. The building will welcome its first students coming september.

OnArchitecture features a nice video of the project.

30.05.2014
OFFICE 119: DER BAU
ROUGH CONSTRUCTION FINISHED

Rough construction on 'Der Bau', a villa in the green belt around Brussels, has been completed. The house, set on an exceptionally beautiful terrain, features a completely openable ground floor level, squeezed between two constructive waffle structures containing a set of identical rooms.

29.05.2014
OFFICE 78: LIBRARY
OFFICE 78: LIBRARY
CONSTRUCTION ALMOST COMPLETED

Construction of the new library of Architecture and Urbanism for the University of Ghent is almost completed. The library, which will be installed in an existing hall formerly used for Physics experiments, consists of a coated steel cupboard of three floors, which forms a new perimeter inside the hall emphasising its impressive space. Moveable perforated panels allow for various levels of accessibility and transparency.

The library staff is preparing to move in, and the opening is expected in the beginning of October. Follow the progress here.

06.05.2014
OFFICE 144: PILOOTPROJECTEN WONEN
SECOND PHASE COMPLETED

The second phase of Pilootprojecten Wonen, a masterplan for the Ter Hoogte site in Wilrijk, has been completed. The project is the continuation of the study on the future of housing in Flanders.
The masterplan by OFFICE, for AG Vespa, focusses on developing the undefined interior of a building block in the 20th century belt of the city of Antwerp. The intervention results in a green public park in its centre and semi-private green spaces at its fringes.

The results of this study were presented to the press on the 6th of May by the minister of housing, Freya Van den Bossche and Vlaams Bouwmeester Peter Swinnen.

In collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets, 3E, Bas Princen, Milica Topalovic, Bart Verschaffel, Daidalos-Peutz and Buro Move. More information here.

22.04.2014
OFFICE 169: MANIERA PROTOTYPES

OFFICE designed 3 tables and a chair for MANIERA. The table is both a very simple design with a clear emphasis on tectonics and an effective piece of engineering. 3 prototypes are presented, each of which consists of a specific material — industrial L sections in polyester, aluminium or steel — and size. A thick epoxy coating is poured on top of an ultra-thin tabletop, made from the same material, to soften the design.

The Solo chair is a ‘frozen’ version of the walking-stick chair “No.6822”, as designed by Thonet circa 1866, and long since out of production. A deliberately ‘open’ interpretation of the original, it's undone from its actual folding mechanism and becomes a contemplation on surface and structure. The piece of furniture is actually both a chair and a small table, the proportions of its components referring to the Solo house (see below).

Both the tables and the chair are available as limited-edition furniture from MANIERA.

In collaboration with Arthur De Roover
More information: MANIERA
Prototypes can be viewed by appointment until June 14th 2014.
Photo © 2014 Maniera - Sven Laurent

02.04.2014
OFFICE 130: SOLO HOUSE
CONSTRUCTION STARTED

Construction on the OFFICE-designed Solo House in Catalunya, Spain, has started. Foundation works are underway, with the characteristic disc-like footprint now apparent on the impressive hilltop site.

More information on Solo Houses here.

7.4.2014
SOURCE MATERIAL
SOURCE MATERIAL
EXHIBITION IN MILAN

An OFFICE contribution can be found at the exhibition 'Source Material', running now until April 12th in the Kaleidoscope Project Space. Source Material, curated by Jasper Morison, explores the references, keepsakes, objects and books that have informed, provoked and stimulated a selection of people working in several creative disciplines today.

15.03.2014
OFFICE 133: PEARL TRAIL
PROJECT OPENED TO PUBLIC

The first two out of a total of eighteen public spaces in Muharraq, Bahrain, have been completed. Their opening ceremonies were held on March 15th.

The small-scale public squares, dotted along the Unesco world heritage 'Pearling Trail', are finished and furnished in polished concrete and cooled with a piping system. They will provide punctual microclimates, points of relief and places of interaction for visitors and inhabitants of the former pearl city.

More information on the Bahrain Pearling Trail.
In collaboration with Bureau Bas Smets and Transsolar.

03.03.2014
OFFICE 168: LEIENTOREN
COMPETITION, 1ST PRIZE

OFFICE has won the competition for a temporary information pavilion on the Rooseveltplaats in Antwerp. The proposal is a tower constructed from steel sheet piling, its window openings cut out with blowtorches. Inside visitors will find information on the ongoing construction works on the Operaplein and Rooseveltplaats. The balcony on the central floor gives an overview of the changing city environment. The 'Leientoren' will be completed and opened in March 2015.

10.12.2013
OFFICE WINS TWO BELGIAN PRIZES
FOR ARCHITECTURE

OFFICE 56 WEEKEND HOUSE and OFFICE 47 COMPUTER SHOP each won a Belgian Prize for Architecture, in the “Single Family Housing” and “Non-Residential (Private Development)” categories respectively.

The prestigious bi-annual Belgian Prizes for Architecture & Energy were awarded on the 10th of December in the The Centre for Fine Arts (BOZAR) by FAB. The international jury panel, comprised of Emanuel Christ (Christ & Gantenbein Arch., CH), Edouard Francois (Maison Edouard Francois, FR), Shelley Mc Namara (Grafton Arch, IE), Oana Bogdan (Bogdan & Van Broek Arch, BE) amongst others, picked our projects in two out of five categories.

OFFICE 39 VILLA BUGGENHOUT was also nominated in the category “Single family housing”.

More information on the Belgian Prize for Architecture.

09.12.2013
OFFICE 90: AGRICULTURE SCHOOL
BUILDING SEALED

Construction continues with interior finishings. The school is expected to open in September 2014.

04.12.2013
OFFICE 158: WALL PAVILION
SHENZHEN BI-CITY BIENNALE OF URBANISM AND ARCHITECTURE

OFFICE was invited by curators Jeffrey Johnson and Li Xiangning to present an installation on this year's Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, the theme of which is 'Urban Borders'. Together with photographer Bas Princen, a rationale of walls was developed. The Wall Pavilion is a cylindrical space defined by a thin brick wall. A series of large prints of ancient brick structures are shown on the inside. It reveals the two-faced nature of any perimeter, existing both as a physical border and a concept of hierarchy.

The Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture opened the 6th of December, 2013 and continues until the 20th of February 2014

22.11.2013
OFFICE 162 NEW NCCA, MOSCOW
IN COLLABORATION WITH 51N4E

OFFICE in collaboration with 51N4E entered a radical proposal in the competition for the new National Centre for Contemporary Art (NCCA), Moscow.

The project for the 40,000 m² museum claims its place in the urban arena of a former air field by presenting itself as a giant display of 165m by 95m, black during day and lit up at night. The display is held by four different building types; a silo, a palace, a warehouse and an office tower. Conceived as a selection of spatial types that are re-appropriated and put in sequence, the new NCCA offers flexibility without an open plan. The centre is a device, allowing conditions of difference, of alternatives, of the unexpected.

In collaboration with 51N4E.
For more information, visit the NCCA website.

16.10.2013
OFFICE SCEONGRAPHY
FOR INDOMANIA

OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen recently completed the scenography for the exhibition 'Indomania' in Bozar, Brussels. The exhibition, part of the Europalia.India arts festival, focuses on the recurring influence and fascination India has had on European travellers since 16th century until today.

OFFICE's scenography uses reflective banners and mirroring pedestals to create a consistent structure and horizon, which guides the visitor through the different periods and themes presented in the enfilade of halls of the Bozar.

Exhibition: Indomania: from Rembrandt to the Beatles
From 16.10.2013 until 26.01.2014

21.09.2013
3 OFFICE PROJECTS NOMINATED FOR THE BELGIAN PRIZE OF ARCHITECTURE

Villa Buggenhout (Office 39), the Weekend House in Merchtem (Office 56) and the Multiplies Computer Shop in Tielt (Office 47) have all been nominated for the Belgian Prize for Architecture and Energy. The international jury selected Villa Buggenhout and Weekend House as 2 of 5 possible winners in the category of single family housing. The computer shop will feature in the private non-residential category. All nominated projects can be seen on the award website.
Winners will be announced in Bozar, Brussels on December 10th.

Belgian Prize for Architecture & Energy
Award presentation in Bozar, Brussels on Dec. 10th 2013

21.09.2013
OFFICE 117: ARBOR DRYING HALL
CONSTRUCTION COMPLETED

The Arbor Drying Hall in Hulshout, Belgium, has been completed, and is now in use. This hall sits in the middle of fields of potted plants of varying scales; its main purpose being to dry potted plants before distribution. The hall's tilted and skewed shape give it a changing appearance when seen from different angles.

21.09.2013
OFFICE WINS COMPETITION
FOR NEW STARTER'S CENTER

OFFICE made the winning proposal in the competition for a new Starter's Center in Waregem, Belgium. The building, commissioned by the Provincial Development Company of West-Flanders (POM), will provide rentable working space for six young companies in various fields of work.

The project is a simple and spartan box, demonstrating a refined use of standard industrial building elements such as prefabricated concrete walls and aluminium gates. The six ateliers form a giant plinth for the luminous box on top, which contains a communal meeting room surrounded by a large green roof. The Ghent artist Willem Cole will develop the colour palette.

11.09.2013
IN PURSUIT OF ARCHITECTURE
VILLA BUGGENHOUT PRESENTED IN NEW YORK

Office's Buggenhout Villa, realised in 2010, was selected for 'In Pursuit of Architecture', a conference in celebration of Log Magazine's tenth anniversary, as one of 10 architecture projects that have contributed to architectural discourse between 2003 and 2013. The conference, which will take place in the MOMA in New York on September 21st, will feature a series of round-table discussion between the selected architects and critics. For more information, follow this link.

Location: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Date: September 21st, 2013. Saturday 10:00-17:00

29.5.2013
DRYING HALL MODEL ON DISPLAY IN LONDON

An impressive new model of Office 117, the drying hall for tree nursery Arbor, will feature on 'Atlas of the Unbuilt World' at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London.

The exhibition, part of the 2013 London Festival of Architecture, will feature 60 models of projects architects around the globe, all planned to be constructed in the following months or years. Office's project, an immense perforated steel hall which will be used to house and dry plants and trees prior to transportation, is planned to be completed this summer.

Location: The Bartlett School of Architecture, London WC1E 6AP
Date: 7-27 June 2013, Monday- Saturday 10:00-18:00, Sunday 12:00-17:00

17.5.2013
OFFICE 45 ON XX MODELS MARSEILLE

The 1:1 scale detail model of Office 45: Kortrijk XPO will be featured on the second edition of ‘XX Models’ by Bozar, which takes place in Maison de l’Architecture et de la Ville in Marseille (FR), from May 17th until June 14th. For more information follow this link.

19.3.2013
LECTURE AT EXISTENZ, LEUVEN

On Wednesday 19/3, David Van Severen will lecture on recent OFFICE projects as part of the 'Existenz week', an architecture event week organised by the Master of Leuven University. The lecture is free of charge. For more information visit www.existenz.be.

13.3.2013
OASIS PROJECT AT THE SHARJAH BIENNIAL 11

OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen is pleased to invite you to the Sharjah Biennial 11, which is open now in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. In 'Re:emerge, Towards a New Cultural Cartography', curator Yuko Hasegawa proposes a Biennial that reassess the Westerncentrism of knowledge in modern times and reconsiders the relationship between the Arab world, Asia, the Far East, through North Africa and Latin America. More then 100 artists will present their work, which will include site-specific interventions, film, music and performances.

OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen has created a multi-site urban project. The OASIS project links SB11 Biennial venues and the North-East and South-West parts of Sharjah's historic centre which is divided by Bank street, a wide thoroughfare dating from the 1970s. The three OASIS gardens have varying degrees of public accessibility, each creating a dialogue with specific urban contexts and their users.

Event: Sharjah Biennial 11: Re:emerge —Towards a New Cultural Cartography
Location: Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Date: March 13th 2013 — 13 May 2013

4.2.2013
OFFICE 90: AGRICULTURE SCHOOL

Construction has begun on the Agriculture School in Leuven, and the first of the precast concrete walls are in place.

4.2.2013
OFFICE 62: CITY VILLA

The City Villa in Brussels has been completed!

24.12.2012
OFFICE WINS COMPETITION FOR AN APARTMENT COMPLEX

OFFICE, in collaboration with PROJECT², advvt, Meta and NoA, have won the competition for 4 apartment buildings in the Cadix neighbourhood, on Antwerp's 'Eilandje'. The project formulates a nuanced answer to the current question of sustainable living, on the edge of the city.

01.12.2012
DOMUS 964 EDITED BY OFFICE NOW IN NEWSSTANDS

On request of main editor Joseph Grima, OFFICE created the cover and the editorial of Domus 964. Furthermore, the issue will feature extensive reviews three OFFICE projects, and the photo essay 'Doubles' by Bas Princen. This special 'curated' issue of Domus is the last of a series of 11, which started in january 2012.

Domus 964 is available in print and on iPad.

29.11.2012
EXHIBITION THE URBAN PARADOX

The exhibition and publication 'The Urban Paradox' shows projects from the 2012 Masterstudio at the Institute of Architectural Typologies (TU Graz) lead by Visiting Professor Kersten Geers and Professor Hans Gangoly with Markus Bogensberger, Michael Langeder and Andrea Zanderigo.

Twelve carefully selected projects of 20th century architecture work as a backdrop and reference for the design of a large scale urban housing project in the city of Graz. Emphasizing the notion of architectural design as transformative process that inevitably combines appropriation and interpretation, the projects explore the question of history and monumentality in urban architecture, that is inevitably confronted with any form of inner densification of the European city.

The exhbition will run from november 29th until December 27th in the Gotische Halle of the GrazMuseum, Reinerhof, Graz (AT) and is open from Wednesday to Monday from 10h until 17h.

26.10.2012
INTERVENTIONS AT ETABLISSEMENT D'EN FACE

Office kindly invites you to a series of interventions during two weeks at the Brussels art gallery Établissement d'en face.

The series will start with a 2G launch event on Friday 26th of October, at 7 p.m. The evening will feature a conversation with Bart Verschaffel and Bas Princen, and a concert by Different Fountains.

On Friday 2d of November, also 7 .p.m., there will be lectures and a conversation by two new Office clients: Christian Bourdais, commissioner of the Solo project in Spain, and Noura Al Sayeh, commissioner of the Door projects in Bahrain.

Finally, on Tuesday 13th of november, Pier Paulo Tamburelli and Andrea Zanderigo of Baukuh will give a lecture.

All events are open to the public, and free of charge.

More information: Projects Établissement d'en face
Location: Établissement d'en face, Ravensteinstraat 32, 1000 Brussels

01.10.2012
ARCHITECTURE WITHOUT CONTENT

OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen kindly invites you to the opening of the exhibition 'Architecture Without Content: Visualising the Collective Machinery of the Contemporary City' in the Pavillon de l'Arsenal in Paris. This exhibition will show the work of the students made at the studio on 'Big Boxes' in Paris, run by Kersten Geers together with Andrea Zanderigo and Carola Daldoss, at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio.

Exhibition: Architecture Without Content
Date: October 2nd, 19h (free entrance), until October 28th, 2012
Location: Pavillon de l'Arsenal, Paris

27.09.2012
OFFICE 45 ON XX MODELS

The detail model of Office 45: XPO, is part of the 'XX Models' group exhibition at Bozar, in Brussels. Entrance is open to the public and free of charge.

Date: September 27th until November 25th, 2012
Location: Bozar, Brussels, BE

29.08.2012
'COLLABORATIONS'
LE BIENNALE DI VENEZIA

For the third time in a row, Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen will participate in the Venice Biennale of Architecture, this time as part of the board of San Rocco Magazine. San Rocco was invited by this edition's curator, David Chipperfield, to contribute to the main exhbition. San Rocco's project 'Collaborations' will be on display in the Corderia in the Arsenale.

Exhibition: Venice Biennale of Architecture 2012, from August 29th until November 25th
Location: Giardini and Arsenale, Venice, IT

27.08.2012
2G #63
AVAILABLE FROM SEPTEMBER 2012

The 63th issue of 2G, featuring 17 projects and 6 texts by and about OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, will be in stores by september 2012. The issue will be festively launched on the 13th Architecture Biennale in Venice, on the 28th of August, in front of the Belgian pavilion. Kersten Geers and David Van Severen will be present, as well as contributors Enrique Walker and Ellis Woodman.

More information: Revista 2G

15.08.2012
OFFICE 56
WEEKEND HOUSE

The Weekend House in Merchtem, Belgium has been completed! The project will be featured in the upcoming 2G issue.

01.08.2012
OFFICE 126
DARAIN, BAHRAIN

Office's recent projects for the construction and conversion of 2 darain, a cinema and a park in Bahrain was well received by the Ministry of Culture. Building preparations will start soon.

01.08.2012
55 000 HA POUR LA NATURE

Office was selected to participate in the ambitious urban and landscaping project '55 000 ha pour la Nature' in Bordeaux, France, as part of a large team led by the Brussels-based landscape architect Bas Smets.

16.05.2012
EXHIBITION DESIGN
JAMES STIRLING AT THE CCA

The exhibition 'Notes from the Archive: James Frazer Stirling' in the CCA, Montreal, features excerpts from the James Stirling/Michael Wilford Archive, permitting an intimate view in the unusual architectural practice.
The exhibition design was made by Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen, as an adaptation of their previous scenography for the 'Imperfect Health' exhibition in the same venue.

Exhibition: James Frazer Stirling: Notes from the Archive, until October 14th 2012
Location: CCA, Montreal, Canada

12.04.2012
EXHIBITION 'IMPERFECT' AT CCA
The ‘Imperfect Health’ exhibition at the Centre for Canadian Architecture in Montreal will end with a finissage on the 15th of April. Office was responsable for the scenography of the exhbition, consisting of two parallel reflecting glass walls, which divided the exisitng rooms of the exhbition venue, creating a new parcours for the visitor within the original room sequence. The Office Scenography will remain in place and be re-used in a coming exhibition on James Stirling.

For the occasion, Kersten Geers and David Van Severen have been invited to give the lecture ‘Office Speaks’ in the CCA. The will present the story of the ‘Imperfect Health’ exhibition design, and present recent work in general. April 12th, 7:00 pm. Free Admission.

03.04.2012
LECTURE AT BERLAGE INSTITUTE
On Tuesday, April 3rd, Kersten Geers and David Van Severen are give a lecture at the Berlage Institute, titled ‘Built Work’, as part of the ‘Shft+alt+del’ lecture series.

02.04.2012
Office 56, ‘Weekend House’ in Merchtem. Delivery expected on the 15th of April.

02.04.2012
Office was invited to design and reconstruct two ‘Darain’ in Bahrain. These music centres of the traditional pearl divers will become important anchors in the changing urban structure.

02.04.2012
Office will give a lecture for the UIC College of Architecture and Arts in Chicago, as part of their 2012 Spring Lecture Series. Admission is free and open to the public. April 9th, 6 p.m., Gallery 1100, 845 W Harrison St, Chicago, IL, US.

02.04.2012
The Office Scenography for ‘Een leven in mode’, the exhibition of an exceptional collection of historical women’s clothing, has opened at the MOMU in Antwerp. The exhibition will run until August 12th 2012.

02.04.2012
‘Ark’, Office’s design for a community centre in Tiruá, Chile, as part of the ‘Meta Project’ curated by Pezo Von Ellrichshausen, was approved by the local City Council.

01.02.2012
Office finishes the tendering dossier for the Agriculture school ‘De Wijnpers’ in Leuven. Construction is planned to start end of 2012.

01.01.2012
Office wins third prize in the competition for the extension of the Sankt Gallen museum of Art. Project in collaboration with Dan Budik and B+G.

01.12.2011
Office wins the competition for Masterplan Emiel Vloorssite in Antwerp. Project in collaboration with Technum/Tritel.

29.10.2011
Office’s installation ‘Garden & Pavillion’, as part of the exhibition 'Architectural Environments for Tomorrow' at MOT Tokyo, curated by Kazuyo Sejima, has opened to the public. The exhibition will run from 29.10. till 15.01.

25.10.2011
Exhibition 'Imperfect Health' at CCA Montreal – Scenography by Office (until April 2012)

01.07.2011
Office has been invited to design a community centre in Tiruá, CL, as part of the ‘Meta Project’, curated by Pezo Von Ellrichshausen.

01.06.2011
Office 62, ‘Villa Schor’, is under construction in Brussels, BE. Completion is expected in spring 2012.

01.05.2011
Construction has started on Office 56, ‘Keywan’ in Merchtem, BE. Completion is expected in winter 2012.

01.03.2011
Office’s design for the temporary museum in the Fabiola Hall of the KMSKA, Antwerp, BE, has opened for the public.

01.02.2011
The projects ‘Villa Voka’ and Kortrijk Xpo have both been nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2011.

01.02.2011
Office has won the Open Call competition for a new agriculture school in Leuven, BE, with the project ‘Belvedere Walraevens’.

Collages and drawings by OFFICE
Photography by Bas Princen

OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen was founded in 2002 by Kersten Geers and David Van Severen. OFFICE is renowned for its idiosyncratic architecture, in which realisations and theoretical projects stand side by side. The projects are direct, spatial and firmly rooted in architectural theory. The firm reduces architecture to its very essence and most original form: a limited set of basic geometric rules is used to create a framework within which life unfolds out in all its complexity.

Since its establishment in Brussels OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen has earned a reputation as one of Belgium’s most successful and renowned practices, and one of the world’s truly original voices in present-day architecture. OFFICE engages in all architectural and urbanist design, creating projects of all scales ranging from furniture to masterplanning in Belgium as well as internationally. This practice is combined with academic research and teaching. These two aspects of OFFICE’s work are explicitly each other’s mirror, creating unexpected parallels between academic and practical work.

Kersten Geers

(°Ghent, 1975) graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Ghent, Belgium and at the Esquela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid, Spain. He worked with Maxwan Architects and Urbanists and with Neutelings Riedijk Architects in Rotterdam. He was professor at the University of Ghent, and visiting professor at Columbia University, NYC, and the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio (CH), and is currently teaching at the EPFL, Lausanne (CH). He is a founding member of the architecture magazine San Rocco.

David Van Severen

(°Ghent, 1978) graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Ghent, Belgium and at the Esquela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid, Spain. He worked with Stéphane Beel Architects, Xaveer De Geyter Architects and for Atelier Maarten Van Severen. He was a teacher and guest critic at the Academy of Amsterdam, the TU Delft, and the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, and he's currently guest tutor at Architecture School of Versailles.

Collaborators

Steven Bosmans, Ir. Architect
Jan Lenaerts, Architect
Bert Rogiers, Ir. Architect
Inga Karen Traustadottir, Architect
Nenad Duric, Architect
Ronan Murray, Architect
Jacopo Lugli, Architect
Yuichiro Onuma, Architect
Anne van Hout, Architect
Justine Rossillion, Architect
Enea Facoetti, Architect
Thomas Mertens, Ir. Architect
Pieter De Walsche, Ir. Architect
Alexander Smedts, Ir. Architect
Edouard Champalle, Architect
Stefaan Jamaer, Ir. Architect
Hugo Mazza
Andrea Pizzini
Rosa Fens
Marlene Oeken
Henri de Chassey
Sahar Safieddine

Anna Andrich, Antoine Souché, Mayumi Kanemaru, Yuki Fujita, Andrea Panzeri, Samuel Genet, Alexandra Paritzky, Michael Maminski, Gasper Skalar, Federico Perugini, Evelyn Temmel, Stefano Gariglio, Tomas Tironi, Joshua Braegger, Sam Dieltjens, Tetsuro Toida, Santiago Giusto, Pierre Gernay, Valerie Van Roy, Sho Kurakawa, Denis Glauden, Michael Langeder, Sophie Florence Wallis, Paul Christian, Thais de Roquemaurel, Michele Mario Zanuso, Martin Dumont, Robin Durand, Pietro Salamone, Guido Tesio, Henrik Becker, Quang-Vinh Linh, Matteo Venezian, Adeline de Vrij, Vincenzo Paterno, Sam Lanckriet, Stanislas Peeters, Jean-Sebastien Lebreton, Andrew Power, Augustin Fortuné, Antoine Vaxelaire, Barbara De Smedt, Saskia Lorenz, Antoine Espinasseau, Wim François, Dieter Van Acker, Jorrit Sipkes, Mo Vandenberghe, Hildebrand Wanders

Applications

For applications please send your digital portfolio (10 mb maximum) in pdf-format to applications@officekgdvs.com. We do not accept printed portfolios. We will consult our archive when looking for new employees.

Projects (selection)

145  ‘Flanders Expo’. Exposition halls complex in Flanders, Ghent, BE, in building preparation, 2013-...

144  ‘Pilootprojecten wonen’. Research of new living typologies in Flanders, 2013-...

140  Elementary school, Asse, BE, competition, 2013

137  ‘Keizer Karel’, apartment complex, Ghent, BE, invited competition, 2012

133  ‘Pearl Route’, urban visiting route in Bahrain, competition, 1st prize, under development, 2012-...

132  ‘55 000 Ha pour la nature’, landscape study, Bordeaux, FR, i.c.w. Bureau Bas Smets, under development, 2012-...

130  ‘Solo’, villa near Barcelona, ES, under development, 2012-...

129  'Gebouw O', auditroiumgebouw in Wilrijk, BE. Competition, 2012.

128  'Tondelier’, appartement building, Ghent, BE, under development, 2012-...

126  Dar Al Riffa & Dar Al Jeena, cultural centres in Bahrain, in building preparation, 2012-...

125  ‘Lerooy’, artists’ residence, Brussels, BE, in building preparation, 2012-...

124  'Oasis', Project for the Sharjah Art Bienneal, Sharjah, UAE, 2012-13

120  'Bordeaux TPG', Masterplan for a University Campus, Bordeaux, FR, i.c.w. NP2F, under development, 2012-...

119  'Der bau', house in Linkebeek, BE. 2012-...

118  ‘4 Ecologies’, masterplan, Emiel Vloorssite, Antwerp, BE. Competition, i.c.w. Technum, 1st prize, 2011-…

117  ‘Arbor’, drying hall, Herselt, BE. Under construction, 2011-…

115  ‘De Denderkaai’, Masterplan, Aalst, BE. Invited competition, 2011

114  ‘Passages’, Fashion- and design centre, Brussels, BE. Competition, 2011

112  Extension of the Art Museum of Sankt Gallen, CH. Invited competition, 3de prize, i.c.w. Dan Budik, 2011

113  ‘Garden & Pavillion’, installation, MOT, Tokyo, JP. Project by invitation of Kazuyo Sejima, 2011

110  'Imperfect', scenography, Canadian Centre of Architecture, Montreal, CA. Realised, 2011

109  ‘Bewildering’, Image quality plan for the ‘Groene Singel, Antwerp, BE. Invited competition, i.c.w. Eurospace, H+N+S, Artgineering & Witteveen+Bos, 2011

108  ‘1, Porte d’Ivry’, office building, Paris, FR. Invited competition

105  ‘Kleefse Waard’, industry park renovation and expansion, Anrhem, NL. Under construction, 2011-…

104  ‘Cadixplaats’, Square & park, Antwerp, BE. Competition, i.c.w. LandInzicht, 2011

103  Care centre ‘Waegebrughe’, Kruishoutem, BE. Competition, i.c.w. HHF Architects, 2nd prize, 2011

099  ‘Ilot des Mariniers’, housing complex, Paris, FR. Competition, i.c.w. Eric Lapierre, 2011

098  ‘Brooklyn’, housing complex, Antwerp, BE. Competition, i.c.w. Eric Lapierre, 2011

097  ‘Zone M’, masterplan, Tour&Taxis-site, Brussels, BE. Competition i.c.w. Jan De Vylder

095  'Ark', community centre, Tirua, CL. Project on invitation by Pezo Von Ellrichshausen Architects, In building preparation, 2011-…

094  ‘Fabiola’, exhibition hall, Royal Museum for Fine Arts, Antwerp, BE. Realised, 2010

092  ‘Kunsthallen’, temporary museum, Humboldthafen, Berlin, DE. Invited competition.

091  ‘Doubles Eem’, yacht club, Amersfoort, NL. In building preparation, 2010-…

090  'Belvedere Walraevens', Agriculture school, Leuven, BE. Competition, 1st prize. Under construction, 2010-…

089  Public library, Halle, Belgium. Competition, 2010

086  ‘Tondo Errera’, furniture for the Errera building, Brussels, BE. Realised, i.c.w. Richard venlet, 2010

085  ‘Garden Pavillion (7 Rooms, 21 Perspectives)’, 12th Architecture Biennial, Venice, IT. Invited by Kazuyo Sejima, i.c.w. Bas Princen Awarded with the Silver Lion, 2010

084  'Boiler House', Somerset, UK, 2010-…

083  Furniture for the Elisa Platteau & Cie art gallery, Brussels, BE. 2010

082  'The Continous Monument', WWII museum in Gdansk, PL. Competition, 2010

079  ‘The World of Lucas Cranach’, scenography Bozar, Brussels, BE, and Musée de Luxembourg, Paris, FR. 2010

078  Library and entrance hall, faculty of architecture and urbanism, University of Ghent, BE. Competition, 1st prize, in building preparation, 2010-…

076  'Wall', Outdoor theater scenography, in Brussels, BE, Ghent, BE and Douai, FR, 2010

075  ‘Urban Villa’, Housing Complex, En Sully, CH. Invited by Christ & Gantenbein Architekten, under development, 2010-…

074  'Snow Valley', Peer, BE. Competition, i.c.w. META Architecten, 2009

073  'Hoevezavel', Elderly house, Lommel, BE. Competition, i.c.w. HHF Architects

071  'Strategy for a lost Landscape', project for the Watou art village, BE. i.c.w. Bureau Bas Smets, 2009

068  'Passage 33', Extension Arts Centre Z33, Hasselt, BE. Competition i.c.w. Francesca Torzo, 2009

065  ‘The Urban Machine’, urban project Mechelen, BE and Kosice, SK. Project for City Visions Europe, Berlage Institute, Rotterdam, NL, 2009-2010

063  ‘Domus’, Church, Hatlehol, NO. Competition i.c.w. Bureau Bas Smets, 2009

062  ‘Villa Schor, house extension, Brussels, BE. Realisation, 2009-2013

061  'Villa Voka', Chamber of Commerce, Kortrijk, BE. Competition, i.c.w. Bureau Goddeeris and Bas Smets, 1st Prize. Realisation, 2008-2010

057  'Central Park Turnhout', Masterplan & Tunnel/dike, Turnhout, BE. Competition i.c.w. Technum, 1st prize, under development, 2008-…

056  ‘Keywan’, house extension, Merchtem, BE. Under constrution, 2008-2012

055  Extension Plantin-Moretus museum, Antwerp, BE. Competition, 2008

054  Student Housing Kantienberg, Ghent, BE Competition i.c.w. 360 Architects, 2008

051  '25 Rooms', Villa in Ordos, CN. Invited project, curated by Ai Weiwei, 2008

050  'After the Party', Belgian Pavillion at the 11th International Architecture Biennial, Venice, IT. Competition, 1st prize, 2008

045  Kortrijk XPO, Exhibition complex, Kortrijk, BE. I.c.w. Joachim Declerck, Goddeeris and Bas Smets. Realisation, 2007-2009

044  3 Villa's, Ibiza, ES, 2007

041  Lake Side Villa, Keerbergen, BE, 2007

040  Silo's, Leuven, BE. Invited competition, 2nd prize, i.c.w. Stéphane Beel Architects, 2007

039  Villa, Buggenhout, BE. Realisation, 2007-2010

037  ‘A Green Archipelago’, Care City, Lake Marker, NL. Invited competition, i.c.w. Twynstra-Gudde Advisors, 2007

035  ‘Cité de Refuge’, Ceuta, ES. Project for the Architecture Biennial Rotterdam, NL, Special Mention Award, 2007

033  ‘A Vision for Brussels’, Scenography, Bozar, Brussels, BE

030  ‘First Town’, KOR. Competition, honorable mention, i.c.w. Dogma and H&A Architects, 2006

029  Observation Tower, Hoge Kempen, BE. Competition, i.c.w. Util/Rolf Vansteenwegen, in building preparation, 2006-…

028  Asplund Library, Stockholm, SE. Competition, i.c.w. Richard Venlet, 2006

027  ‘Housing and Cemetery’, project for the Architecture Biennial, Venice, IT. I.c.w. Dogma and Elia Zenghelis, 2006

026  ‘Dessian Housing’, housing complex, KOR. I.c.w. Dogma and H&A Architects, 2006

024  ‘Oostende Werft’, exhibition design, Oostende, BE, 2006

023  Bridge for the Handelsbeurs concert hall, Ghent, BE. Realised, 2006-2008

021  Public Floor for Wiels Art Centre Brussel, BE. Competition, 1st prize, under development, 2006-…

022  ‘A garden and a block’, project for Prix de Rome, 2005

020  Art Academy, Tienen, BE. Competition, 2005

019  ‘A Grammar for the City’, New Administrative Capital, KOR. Competition, 1st prize, i.c.w. Dogma, 2005

018  ‘Housing Wall’, Milan, IT. Competition, i.c.w. Baukuh, 2005

017  ‘Braeckman house’ Mansion, Ghent, BE, 2005-2007

016  ‘35m3’, exhibition design, Antwerp, BE, 2005

015  ‘Border Garden’, Border Crossing US-MX. Competition, 1st prize, i.c.w. Wonne Ickx, 2005

012  ‘Museum In Motion’, museum for contemporary art, i.c.w. Dries Vandevelde and Richard Venlet, 2004

010  University Library, Berlin, DE. International Competition, i.c.w. Dan Budik, 2004

009  ‘Tower & Square’, Rotterdam, NL. Project i.c.w. Bas Princen and Milica Topalovic, 2004

007  ‘Summerhouse’, house extension, Ghent, BE. Realised, 2004-2007

006  Belgian Pavilion for the Architecture Biennial Venice, IT. Competition, 2nd prize, i.c.w. Dries Vandevelde, Richard Venlet and Laurent Ney, 2003

005  Showroom and studio, Venice, LA, US, 2003

004  ‘Non Stop’, object for Beople Magazine, 2003

002  ‘Entrance’, notary's Office, Antwerp, BE

Solo exhibitions

‘Talk about Space’, Burgau, GER, 2011

‘7 Rooms/15 Tables’, TU Delft, NL, 2010

‘7 Rooms’, deSingel International Art Campus, Antwerp, BE, 2009

‘35m3’, deSingel international art center, Young Architects, VAI, Antwerp, BE, 2005

Group exhibitions (selection)

2014

'A Small Museum for the American Metaphor', REDCAT gallery, LA

'Labo des Héritiers', Grand Hornu, Mons (BE)

2013

‘Oasis’, urban project on the Sharjah Art Bienneal, UAE

2012

'Collaborations', installation with San Rocco at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2012

Office 45 on 'XX Models: young Belgian architecture', at Bozar, Brussels

2011

Office 113, ‘Garden & Pavilion’, installation, MOT, Tokyo, JP. By invitation of Kazuyo Sejima

2010

Office 85, ‘Garden Pavilion’, 12th Architecture Biennial, Venice, IT. By invitation of Kazuyo Sejima, i.c.w. Bas Princen. Winner of the Silver Lion.

‘West-Arch: A New Generation in Architecture’, in the Ludwig Forum, Aachen, DE

Office 51, ‘25 Rooms’, in Art Basel, CH. By invitation of Territorial Agency

Office 71 ‘Strategy for a Lost Landscape’, at Watou Art Festival, BE

2008

Office 50, ‘After the Party’, 11th Architecture Biennial, Venice, IT.

2007

Office 35, ‘Cité de Refuge’, in ‘A Portrait of the Artist as a Researcher’, Vienna, AT

Office 35, ‘Cité de Refuge’, 3rd Architecture Biennial, Rotterdam, NL

Office 27 10th Architecture Biennial, Venice, IT

Office 17 in ‘Gent Morgen’, Ghent, BE

‘New trends in Europe and South East’, traveling exhibition in Tokyo, Patras, Sydney and Luxembourg

2005

‘Wonderland’, Young European Architects, traveling exhibition, Amsterdam, Paris, Venice, Zagreb and Ljubljana

2004

‘Groepsportretten’, Witte de With Art Gallery, Rotterdam

Publications (selection)

2014

Office 62, City Villa, AMC Maisons, Dec 2014
Office 130, Country House Matarraña, Competitions online, Nov 2014
Office 02, 06, 50, 61, 90 in ‘Architectuur in België 25 jaar in 75 projecten’ (Christophe Van Gerrewey), Okt 2014
Office 184 in ‘Rem Koolhaas en drie Belgische bureaus in de running voor nieuw VRT-gebouw’, De Standaard, Okt 2014
Office 90 in ‘De Architect. Een gat in de school’ (Koen Van Synghel), De Standaard Okt 2014 Office 165 in ‘Een taai programma’, A+ N.250, Okt 2014
Office KGDVS explores strength of materials with prototype furniture, dezeen magazine, Aug 2014
Brussels  architectenbureau  Office  KGDVS ontwerpt  meubels  voor MANIERA, De Standaard, Jul 2014
Interview with architect Kersten Geers, Designboom, April 2014

2013

Office 47 in 'Bezeten door muren', in De Morgen, Dec 2013 Office, guest redaction of Domus 964, Sep 2012, Milan. Office in 'Gouden generatie van de Belgische architectuur, in De Morgen, Sep 2013 Office 56 and 62 in A+U 515, 'Houses by emerging architects', Tokyo, Aug 2013. Office 39 and 56 in Arquine 63, spring 2013, Mexico City.

2012

2G #63, 'OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen', Gustavo Gili, ES Office 39 in 'A Perimeter and 18 Rooms' (Stefan Devoldere), in Abitare, april 2012 Domus 964, guest editorship, cover, editorial and several projects, dec 2012 Office 37, 'Care City', in 'Imperfect Health', Catalogue of the exhition at CCA, CA, 2011 Office 56, ‘Weekend House’ in d’Architectures 212, october 2012

2011

‘One text and eight projects’, in Perspecta 44, Yale University, US Various projects in ‘Office KGDVS’ (F. Burrichter), Pin-up Magazine, issue 10, US Various projects in ‘1907… After the Party’, Quadrens magazine 261, 2011, Barcelona, ES Various projects in ‘Of Positive Pollution and the Power of Constraint’ (D. Bauer & M. Kraus) in Horizonte 03, Berlin, DE Various projects in ‘The importance of being precise’ (Hans Ibelings) in A10 #37, jan/feb 2011, Amsterdam, NL Various projects in ‘The Silent Revelation’, in Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, FR

2010

Office 45, ‘Kortrijk XPO’ (Harm Tilman) in ‘de Architect’, july 2010, Rotterdam, NL Various projects in ‘Places of Exception’ (Aleksander Bierig), LOG 19, NYC, US Office 23 in A+U 2010:4: “Architecture in Belgium and the Netherlands”, april 2010, Tokyo, JP Various projects in ‘Far beyond deconstruction. The architecture view of Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen’ (Bart Verschaffel), in De Witte Raaf 148, BE “Seven Rooms”, international re-issue of the exhibition catalogue, Hatje Cantz, DE

2009

“Design vanguard: Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen” in Architectural Record, dec 2009, London, UK Office 71 ‘Strategy for a Lost Landscape’ in ‘Verzamelde Verhalen #01’, Catalogue Watou Art Festival 2009, BE “Heroic failures” in Building Design, feb 2009, London, UK “Seven Rooms”, Exhibition Catalogue, deSingel Publishers, Antwerp, BE Various projects in “Living Rooms”, DAMn 21, BE

2008

Office 7 in A+U 458: ‘Dwellings and the Land’, Nov. 2008 Office 7 in Year book Architecture Flanders, VAi Office 43, ‘The Issue of Obstruction in Urban Design’, in ‘OverHolland7, 5x5 Projecten voor de Hollandse Stad’, TUDelft, Sun Publishers, Amsterdam, NL ‘De Composiie van het Beeld’, Essay of Images, in ‘About Beauty’, Marc Verminck (red.), A&S/books, Ghent, BE Office 7 in de Architect, NL, Feb. ‘08 Office 7 in A+ 210, BE, Feb. ‘08 “Ruskin”, a fictional travel novel around the work of Office, by Christophe van Gerrewey, Vlees en Beton, Ghent, BE

2007

Office 7, in De Standaard Magazine, B Office 35, ‘Cité de Refuge’ in Mark Magazine, Oct. 07 Office 15, ‘Border Garden’ in ‘Memosphere. Rethinking Monuments’, 2007 Office 35, ‘Cité de Refuge’ in ‘Visionary Power’, NAi Uitgevers, Rotterdam, NL

2006

Office 19, ‘A Grammar for the City’ in ’AAfiles’, nr. 54, London Office 19, ‘A Grammar for the City’ in A+ 200, BE Office 22 A Garden and a Block, in ‘Prix-de-Rome 2006’, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam, NL Several projects in XXI Magazine, nr 41, Istanbul

2005

Office 19, ‘A Grammar for the City’ in Architecture & Culture, Seoul, KOR Several projects in de Architect, nr. 6, Rotterdam, NL Office 15, ‘Border garden - Jardin Frontera’, in ‘Arquine’, nr. 32, MX Several projects in Wonderland, AT

2004

Office 2, ‘Entrance’ in XXI, nr. 29, Istanbul, TR Office 2, ‘Entrance’ in Architektur, 3/04, AT Various projects in DAMn magazine, nr. 0, BE

2003

Office 2, ‘Entrance’ in A+ 185, BE Office 2, ‘Entrance’ in Frame magazine, NL Office 2, ‘Entrance’ in A+U 184, ‘Driving through Belgium II’, Tokyo, JP Office 4, ‘Non Stop’ in: Beople magazine, BE