The atelier for the Belgian artist Rinus Van de Velde is now complete. Located in a flood-prone area in Leuven, the building takes the form of a simple concrete box. Round perforations in the lower facade allow for the controlled flooding of the crawl space, while two aluminium canopies provide privacy and covered outdoor space. The two-story structure combines a wood-panelled, enclosed working space with an upstairs living area filled with natural light. Both levels can be accessed via retractable outdoor aluminium stairs. Akin to drawbridges, they stand in stark contrast to the immobile character of the monolithic concrete volume, making it appear as a fortress and a creative refuge from the world. 

Photo by Bas Princen

The new semester at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio has just started, with the studio led by prof. Kersten Geers investigating the realm of the ‘Small Town’. This concept does not refer simply to settlements of limited size, nor to places that are marginal; rather, it addresses a widespread and quintessentially modern condition. Modernity did not only produce the metropolis. It also produced an extensive catalogue of settlements that sought to organise collective life outside the traditional city: garden cities, company towns, model neighbourhoods, housing estates, satellite towns, rural villages, infrastructure settlements and industrial parks. Throughout the semester, students will propose a contemporary analogue to this urban typology.

The limited collection of prints produced in collaboration with the New York-based gallery and printmakers A83 for the Four Five Six exhibition—organized around the three new volumes of OFFICE's work—is now part of the permanent collections at MoMA, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and The Art Institute of Chicago. The series consists of 96 duotone screenprints of the grey pages from the three OFFICE volumes. Blown up from the book's A4 format to A2, the prints feature photographs by Bas Princen, Stefano Graziani, and Giovanna Silva. The MoMA digital collection is now online, and you can see the entire portfolio here.

Photo by Michael Vahrenwald

We have the pleasure of inviting you to the book launch of OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen – Volumes 4, 5 & 6 on Wednesday 24 June, from 7:00 PM at Architecture Curating Practice in Brussels. With Amaryllis Jacobs, Christophe Van Gerrewey, Kersten Geers, David Van Severen and Jelena Pancevac.

We have the pleasure of inviting you to the book launch of OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen – Volumes 4, 5 & 6 on Thursday 11 June, from 6:00 PM at AA Bookshop, 33 Bedford Square in London. The books are designed by Joris Kritis and published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König.

OFFICE in collaboration with Bruther, has won the competition for a mixed-use urban block combining housing and sports facilities in Brussels. The Vander Putten Stadium site, located next to the Institut Des Arts Et Métiers campus, was gradually absorbed into a denser and more complex urban fabric. Its redevelopment is part of the broader urban regeneration strategy which aims to transform former infrastructural or underused municipal sites into compact, mixed-use districts combining housing, public facilities, and green space. At its core, the project is structured around a large central garden in front of the existing buildings that organises the entire site. Four main new volumes—residential buildings and a sports complex—perform as anchors of the new development envisaged as a continuous green park with outdoor recreational facilities. 

In collaboration with Bruther, Michel Desvigne Paysagiste and M-gineers.

Rasters modular furniture designed by OFFICE in collaboration with Muller Van Severen, and produced by BD Barcelona, will be presented during Milan Design Week. Originally conceived for Bottega Veneta’s HQ, the project translates structural grid systems into a family of cabinets and paravents that organise and divide space without enclosing it. Opening with the designers is on Monday, April 20, 2—7PM at Zaza, Via Privata Leopoldo Gasparotto 4, Milan. For more info, please visit this link.

We have the pleasure of inviting you to the book launch of OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen – Volumes 4, 5 & 6 on Friday March 13th from 6:30 PM at Palais de Tokyo bookshop in Paris.

LECTURE AT THE AA, LONDON

Kersten Geers will be speaking at the Inevitability of Mannerism conference, organised by Mario Carpo and Francisco González de Canales at the Architectural Association in London. The event will take place on Friday, January 30th, and you can find more info and reserve your place here.

A conversation between OFFICE and A83 at Cooper Union will focus on the three new books — Four, Five & Six — and more generally, on writing about architecture, and making books on architecture, as an expanded field of the practice. This is an important part of OFFICE production, which operates under the monicker “Office Without Office” and positions their own projects in the broader context of architectural discourse. This event will take place on Wednesday December 10th at 6.30PM. It is free and open to the public upon registration here.

We have the pleasure of inviting you to the book launch of OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen – Volumes 4, 5 & 6 on Friday December 12th from 6–8 PM at A83 in New York.

The three new books are part of our ongoing oeuvre catalogue that started eight years ago when Volumes 1, 2 & 3 were published. Maintaining the same systematic and chronological way of presentation, they chronicle the development of the practice and include many of the recently built projects. Bas Princen, Stefano Graziani and Giovanna Silva contributed photography, while the volumes open with essays by Thomas Weaver and Seng Kuan, and an interview with Rita McBride. The books are designed by Joris Kritis and published by Verlag Der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König. 

We will introduce the new books in a conversation with Joris Kritis, hosted and moderated by Clara Syme and Owen Nichols. We hope to see you there!  

The exhibition ‘Four Five Six' is on view at A83 until December 20th. 

For more info, check their website. 

JOHN BALDESSARI: PARABLES, FABLES, AND OTHER TALL TALES

OFFICE made the exhibition design for the major retrospective on John Baldessari at BOZAR in Brussels. The exhibition, curated by Rita McBride, Bartomeu Mari, and David Platzker, focuses on Baldessari’s work from the 1980s to the 2000s. It reveals the continued international relevance of his practice, including to generations born in the digital age. OFFICE’s exhibition design is a subtle background to the dense collection of images and words, while each corner room of the enfilade disrupts the sequence with an explosion of visual humour by the master himself. The exhibition is open to the public from 19 September 2025 to 1 February 2026. For more info and related events please check here.

OFFICE 334 & 345: OFFICE BUILDINGS MONTOYER & COMMERCE COMPLETED

Renovation of two office buildings in the European Quarter in Brussels is now completed. In both cases, the structure of the existing buildings was reused, and underwent major interventions to optimise the use of space and comply with new sustainability and technical standards of contemporary office space. The larger building of the two, on Montoyer street, now has a recognisable new facade that integrates ventilation ducts, and allows larger window openings, and overall improvement of the spatial quality of the office floors. A double-height foyer creates a transparent and porous ground floor and emphasises the building’s main entrance. The smaller building on Commerce street, is adjacent to an earlier OFFICE project, the Belliard office building, and makes an elegant addition to the streetscape. In collaboration with LD2 and Alides.

THE MODERN PROJECT
STUDIO AT MENDRISIO

The sixth year of the studio led by prof. Kersten Geers at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio is just about to start. Under the banner of the Modern Project, the students will embark on a set of studios that will investigate the failed promised of modernism, and propose to resuscitate its emancipatory agenda through a reinvented formal vocabulary. Can the modern be light again? 

OFFICE 224: HOUSING COMPLEX (VETTENBURG) COMPLETED

The construction of the Housing Complex (Vettenburg) in Ghent is now completed, and the first inhabitants already moved in. This project is a transformation of a former industrial building, situated on a deep and narrow plot along the Scheldt river. The existing building was partially renovated, with new volumes added to accommodate individual housing units. Each housing unit has a courtyard access, with a meandering passage in-between, and a landscape that offers privacy, yet connection through a unified garden. The complex comprises a storefront, an atelier, and a two-story apartment along the street, as well as a studio apartment and two single-family houses in the back. The existing brick perimeter wall is preserved to define the base, with plastered volumes above. 

Eight years after the publication of OFFICE Vols. 1, 2, 3, we are happy to announce the upcoming new sequel: Volumes 4, 5, and 6. The exhibition Four Five Six, made in collaboration with A83, focuses on the expanded content of the books. Instead of showcasing OFFICE work, Four Five Six suggests oblique interpretations, and offers glimpses into references, preoccupations, and everything that makes our world. The exhibition features works by Rita McBride, Bas Princen, Giovanna Silva and Stefano Graziani. Four Five Six will be open to the public from 25 September to 23 November at A83 in New York. A book launch event will be held before the exhibition closes, on 21 November. Limited print editions produced on the occasion of the exhibition will be available soon through www.a83.site/four-five-six and www.officewithoutoffice.com