Art integration

Rubens Square is a triangular square with a large opening towards the sea. Two long benches oriented parallel to the water are bordered by a wall of tempered glass which acts as protection from the wind. It is a particularly social place where elderly people often watch children play. The square’s tiles have a mosaic-like pattern with maritime tones that refer to the nearby sea. Blues, grey-greens and whites are interwoven like an abstract pointillist painting. Only the white tiles are strictly arranged diagonally. Filip Dujardin Filip Dujardin A difference in height of 1.2 meters makes the square slightly concave as if it were a stone wave washing up against the dike. Sculptures by Franz West are placed along two sides. Th... More

In the best museums and galleries one finds one's way through a series of rooms, where the artefacts are carefully lit and set off by calm backgrounds. A degree of repetition helps navigation, some variation helps orientation. Filip Dujardin The proposals for the Whitechapel Art Gallery are bold in their restraint (someone commented: 'where’s the architecture?') and seize a simple but powerful opportunity: lower and upper floors are configured as circuits of rooms, with the stylistically different but volumetrically similar existing galleries linked up by smaller, more domestically scaled gallery spaces. The subtle rhythms and contrasts of the rooms form the backdrop to the wide variety of work on display (historic and contempor... More

The conservation project for the Book Tower aims at restoring the historical site of the University Library, situated in the lively quartier Latin of Ghent, meanwhile at transforming it into a library for the 21st Century. The design unites the ambitions of the University to respectfully repair the monumental site to its original condition, but also to render it a contemporary house for a great diversity of users and for the valuable own collection of the institute. Kristien Daem The Ghent University Library is internationally renowned for its ‘heritage collection’ of manuscripts, books, coins, curiosa, newspapers and magazines. The study into the conservation project revealed that the conservation of these precious object... More