Lunch series aims to revamp Brussels' architectural legacy

Despite its name, Lunch with an Architect has little to do with the conventional midday meal. The series, which began in 2015 in Brussels, is actually a two-hour conference by a renowned architect, organised around noon. (But don’t worry: a meal, albeit small, is provided.)

Taking place three times a year, the series is targeted at real estate professionals, architects and academics and aims to be a forum for reflection and discussion on improving the quality of architecture in Brussels. According to its mission statement, it serves as a “window on the major contemporary events in the world of architecture, the more specifically Belgian issues, and the emblematic projects under way”.

“Through these conferences,” explains series founder Kathleen Iweins, “we try to influence both society’s and policymakers’ views on architecture.” By working closely with the arts centre Flagey, the architecture faculty at La Cambre Horta and the City of Brussels, she continues, “we can arrange meetings between architects and future policymakers”.

Before last year’s conference with the Norwegian collaborative workshop Snøhetta, for example, Iweins organised a meeting between the Norwegian architects and the cabinet of Brussels’ minister-president Rudi Vervoort. The group visited the empty Citroën garage, which is going to be repurposed as a museum of modern arts.

A social spirit

Iweins, who studied economics at the University of Leuven, previously worked for De Tijd and The Boston Consulting Group, before transitioning to real estate. With her business partner, Nathalie Saverys, she started the public relations agency Forum Press & Communication in 2006. The agency’s first series of lectures, called Buildreen, focused on sustainable construction and ran from 2007 to 2014.

Lunch with an Architect’s next guest speaker is the expressive-minimalist Manuel Aires Mateus, one of the two brothers behind the Lisbon-based Aires Mateus studio. In Belgium, the Portuguese architect is best known for designing the University of Architecture in Tournai.

He is also behind the Olivier-Debré contemporary arts centre in Tours, France. “His studio has its own distinct style and places high value on simplicity and purity,” says Iweins.

Architecture has an important social role to play in cities of the future, and it could prove to be a solution to many of Brussels’ problems

Like Aires Mateus, the previous guests are all internationally renowned. “The whole concept is based around international architects who design buildings all over the world, fitting with a global profile” of the project, explains Iweins.

In addition to Snøhetta, represented by Jenny Osuldsen, previous speakers include Japanese architect (and prolific writer) Kengo Kuma, Xaveer De Geyter of the Brussels-based XDGA and Winy Maas of the Dutch studio MVRDV (pictured).

Who else is the series hoping to profile? “That has got to be the Paris-based Lacaton & Vassal,” says Iweins. “They have a brilliant concept for social housing, one that is actually attainable in Brussels. They always reuse existing buildings and constructions, and in most cases add gardens. That would be great for the social housing blocks in the Brussels-Capital Region.”

In Bordeaux, for example, the studio refurbished 530 apartment units, equipping the tower blocks with winter gardens and generous balconies.

That choice demonstrates the social spirit behind the Lunch with an Architect. If anything, says Iweins, architecture has an important social role to play in cities of the future, and it could prove to be a solution to many of Brussels’ problems.

Lunch with Manuel Aires Mateus, 23 January, Flagey, Brussels

Photo: Architect Winy Maas of the Dutch studio MVRDV leads a Lunch with an Architect lecture in 2016 © Courtesy Lunch with an Architect