Behind the façades

In recent years, Ghent has grown into a laboratory for urban renewal and contemporary architecture. The historic city provides the backdrop for a series of high-profile projects in which repurposement, research and design intelligence come together. During this day trip, we visit some key works that illustrate how Flemish architects deal with context, scale and identity in a layered urban environment.

We start at the Leopold Barracks, an extensive redevelopment of a closed military complex into an open city fragment. Jan Mannaerts of 360 Architecten explains the careful interplay of renovation and new construction, and how the robust structure of the existing buildings provides space for contemporary forms of living and working. The project is exemplary for the refined handling of heritage that characterises Flemish practice.

Then we visit the library of the Faculty of Architecture of Ghent University, an intervention in a protected building, designed by OFFICE KGDVS. Dirk De Meyer, professor of architecture and initiator of the project, explains the design: an intervention that shows radical clarity in all its simplicity, with a tight grid, precise proportions and a consistent materiality that reduces architecture to its essence — structure, light and space.

We have lunch together at Café Viernulvier, ideally located between two project visits and also an important cultural building from 1913: a party room for the socialists in an eclectic style with Art Nouveau influences.

In the afternoon we visit the university library ‘the Book Tower’ by Robbrecht and Daem architects, a careful restoration and renovation of the modernist icon of Henry Van de Velde. Paul Robbrecht explains the intervention, in which technical innovation and great respect for the original formal language have been combined, and the building has been restored to its role as a beacon of knowledge and culture.

We end the day with De Krook, the city library of Ghent, designed by Coussée Goris Huyghe in collaboration with RCR Arquitectes. Ralf Coussée explains the sculptural building, which unfolds along the Scheldt and portrays a new vision of public space: open, transparent and inviting.

The walk ends at Boldhouse Ghent, where we end the day relaxed with a drink: an opportunity to catch up and share experiences.

This day trip offers a compact, but in-depth insight into the contemporary architectural culture of Ghent — a city where the dialogue between past and future is conducted with remarkable precision. The small-scale, guided approach of planopli creates an intensive experience that offers both insight, inspiration and reflection for architects and designers.