Dirk De Meyer
Dirk is professor emeritus of architectural history at Ghent University. He is co-founder of the Ghent Urban Studies Team and specializes in European architectural history. In addition to his academic career, he is active as an author, curator, and speaker.
Dirk is professor emeritus of architectural history and architectural design at the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Ghent University. After training as an engineer-architect at Ghent University, he continued his studies in architectural history at IUAV in Venice, and earned a doctorate at Eindhoven University of Technology. In addition, he spent time in Prague and Rome for study purposes and was a Visiting Scholar at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal.
De Meyer is co-founder of the interdisciplinary research team GUST (Ghent Urban Studies Team) and was director of IRHA, the Institut de Recherche en Histoire de l'Architecture, an interuniversity research organization based in Montreal. From 2003 to 2005 he was Chief Curator at the CCA.
His main research areas include eighteenth-century European architecture and its relationship with culture, science, and politics. In addition, he studies the historiography of architecture from the sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century, its impact on twentieth-century architecture, and the link with cultural and political themes such as nationalism. He also focuses on architectural collections, their development, preservation, and public engagement.
He is the author of several books, including works on Johann Santini Aichel, Piranesi, and the contemporary urban condition. He also contributed to publications by, among others, the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich, Electa in Milan, and the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris. His articles have appeared in international journals such as the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, The Journal of Architecture, and Casabella.
In addition, he curated international exhibitions in Belgium, Prague, and Montreal on Baroque architecture and the work of Piranesi. He has lectured at universities worldwide, including Columbia University, UC Berkeley, and McGill University. He serves on juries for architecture competitions and is a member of editorial boards of professional journals.