El Croquis 226: OFFICE 2017–2024 maps twenty-five projects by Belgian architects Kersten Geers and David Van Severen, tracing a practice that treats architecture not as aesthetic exercise but as civic obligation within the contemporary urban environment.
About This Book
Founded in Brussels in 2002, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen has grown to a team of around forty architects, developing a practical and pragmatic design methodology that resists the spectacle of much contemporary practice. This El Croquis monograph surveys work produced between 2017 and 2024, ranging across building types — crematorium, dental clinic, art gallery — that together reveal a consistent architectural sensibility applied to radically different programmes. The volume opens with a conversation between the two founding architects and Giovanna Borasi, director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, grounding the project work within a broader critical discourse on architecture's role in culture and the city.
Key Features
- 328 pages of project documentation, drawings, and critical conversation across twenty-five works
- Introductory conversation with Giovanna Borasi, director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal
- Notable projects include a crematorium, dental clinic, and art gallery
- Published by El Croquis, ISBN 9788412823417
What You'll Discover
- How OFFICE sustains a pragmatic, non-spectacular approach to design across widely varying building programmes
- The evolution of a Brussels-based practice from its 2002 founding into a forty-person studio with a coherent architectural position
- Architecture framed as civic obligation — a direct challenge to the culture of signature form-making
- Critical reflection on architecture's relationship to contemporary culture and urban environments, via dialogue with one of Canada's leading architectural institutions
About the Author
Kersten Geers and David Van Severen are the founding partners of OFFICE, a Brussels-based architecture firm established in 2002. The practice currently comprises approximately forty architects and has developed a body of work distinguished by its pragmatic and civic approach to design.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 328
- Dimensions: 250 x 340 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9788412823417
- Publisher: El Croquis
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects and students drawn to European practice, researchers in contemporary Belgian architecture, and readers interested in how a mid-sized urban office sustains a critical design position across diverse building types.