Architect

  • PORTRAIT : Francine Houben

    PORTRAIT : Francine Houben

    Francine Houben was in Brussels at the end of 2023 to give a talk at a lunch with an Architect session in Flagey. Mister Emma was backstage to chat with the Mecanoo boss. People, Place, Purpose, Poetry and Mobility are the keywords of the Dutch office’s work. – – – – – – – – – – –…

  • FINSTRAAT, Brussels – Belgium

    FINSTRAAT, Brussels – Belgium

    Arian Schelstraete is an architect. He bought a former brewery warehouse on rue Fin in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean to build his home. He divided the building into 3 flats and a space on the ground floor available for quarters, for associations looking for extra space. To bring light into the heart of each flat, the architect designed…

  • VIGNETTE, Brussels – Belgium

    VIGNETTE, Brussels – Belgium

    Denis and Sandrine lived in rue de la Vignette in Auderghem, and were looking for a bigger house. A plot of land was available just opposite their home. They hired Karbon’ to design a house that would connect with the back garden. The architects proposed a wooden house and helped them to live in a…

  • GRANDE HALLE, Brussels – Belgium

    GRANDE HALLE, Brussels – Belgium

    Located in the heart of the Heyvaert district of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, well known for the car trade to Africa, this flagship project of the « Petite Senne » sustainable neighbourhood contract is built on the site of a former industrial hall built in 1910 on the Quai de l’Industrie. The site, which extends into the interior of the…

  • PARC PIERRE PAULUS, Brussels – Belgium

    PARC PIERRE PAULUS, Brussels – Belgium

    The Parc Pierre Paulus was originally two independent gardens, one belonging to the Pelgrims house and the other to a convent. The English garden of the Pelgrims house had a theatrical organisation, a sort of décor composed of false rockeries, fountains and water features. Then the convent garden was dramatically opened up by the construction…

  • PLACE MARIE JANSON, Brussels – Belgium

    PLACE MARIE JANSON, Brussels – Belgium

    As part of the « Parvis-Morichar » sustainable neighbourhood contract in Saint-Gilles, StudioPaolaVigano’ and vvv architecture urbanisme were commissioned to renovate the Place Marie Janson. The idea was quickly to connect the built front, the Saint-Gilles forecourt and the interior of the square by creating a sloping surface to let the water run off and collect it…

  • MARNIX, Brussels – Belgium

    MARNIX, Brussels – Belgium

    The MARNIX building in the heart of Brussels was erected in 1964 by the American firm SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill). It was extended using the same architectural grammar in 1989 and has become an emblematic building for the European capital, but the task facing Brussels-based A2M today is much more important: to bring the…

  • VILLA 356, Bandol – France

    VILLA 356, Bandol – France

    One late summer afternoon, I received a phone call from the architect Rudy Ricciotti. He knew I was in the South of France. He asked me to visit his clients to see the house he had built for them in Bandol. At 10pm I found myself at David and Carole Warren’s, in a house tucked…

  • Portrait of MATTHIEU ROMANCANT

    Portrait of MATTHIEU ROMANCANT

    Matthieu Romancant is a French architect and urban planner who lives in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) since 2007. He acquired an old stone house surrounded by nature and with an exceptional view, in which he wanted to rediscover certain ties thanks to objects found at flea markets. He tells us about a hotel he has…

  • Portrait of DORTE MANDRUP

    Portrait of DORTE MANDRUP

    Dorte Mandrup is a Danish architect who founded her studio Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter in 1999. She imagines architecture in the context of its environment. Out of conviction and ethics, Dorte Mandrup refuses to work in autocratic countries. She has gained worldwide renown for the projects she builds on particularly fragile sites. In 2022, her studio…