In brief
In Belgian architecture, imaginative architectural solutions are encouraged by city planning. There seems to often be an element of surprise, something unexpected. As the exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale demonstrated, this creative approach is underpinned by city planning and current policy making.
Each country has its own policies, which inform the ideas, innovations and solutions that architects and designers will be able to imagine and propose. Often a common aesthetic approach across a country or local area emerges in response to these regulations.
Dirk Somers, who is architect and founder of Bovenbouw Architects, was the chief-curator of the Belgian Pavilion exhibition. His team built a carefully crafted cityscape of architectural models, like doll’s houses combined into a fictional urban scenography. This sculptural capriccio, was a showcase for the dynamic relationship between different building scales and stylistic approaches in Flemish urban culture.