Bovenbouw ArchitectuurComposite Presence (Belgian Pavilion Biennale Venezia)

Chantal Pattyn’s selection for her storefront.

The Venice Architecture Biennale was postponed for a year for well-known reasons. During former editions we make live radio with Pompidou next to the Belgian Pavilion. So it hurts a bit not to have been able to travel to Venice. It is the VAI (Flanders Architecture Institute) that commissioned Bovenbouw Architects for the Biennale. In the tradition of the previous contribution by De Vylder/ Vinck/ Taillieu (Silver Lion!), Bovenbouw Architects avoided to make it a one-man show, instead they show 50 projects by 45 offices, realized in Belgium, among others by the efforts of city architects and the Flemish Government Architect, various committees to put good architecture on the agenda of policy makers. Dirk Somers, head of Bovenbouw, always emphasizes the friction between architecture and the city. In Composite Present, an ideal (or possible) city appears. All projects, by older and younger colleagues, form a scenography of 1/15 scale models. Only one building was designed by Bovenbouw itself. It is a family home, right next to Argos in Brussels city center. A beauty. I only saw videos and pictures of the Pavillon, but I am already very happy with the beautiful publication of the VAI. Thumbs up for a Golden Lion!
Chantal Pattyn

“Official catalogue of the eponymous exhibition curated by Bovenbouw Architectuur.
How do city and architecture flourish together? This question is central to the three-dimensional capriccio that displays a fictional Flemish urban environment. Over time, the informal city in Flanders and Brussels has developed a unique relationship with its architecture. This staged urban landscape reveals how historical layers, morphological pecu­liarities and unforeseen collisions are an endless source of energy for contemporary architectural production.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition Composite Presence curated by Bovenbouw Architectuur in the Belgian Pavilion at the Biennale di Architettura 2021 in Venice, Italy. The exhibition and publication are a production of the Flanders Architecture Institute on behalf of the Flemish Minister for Culture, Jan Jambon.”