Architecture in Belgium (On Subtlety)

In this personal selection of Belgian architectural projects, Dominique Pieters explores the intersection of space and lived experience. Drawing on her background as a professional architecture and design journalist, she approaches the selected publicly accessible buildings with a clear and pragmatic perspective: as simple sketches that invite readers to look, understand and step inside. For the inaccessible, hidden treasures, she trades architectural jargon for a feather-light pen. Through a series of concise yet powerful stories, she reveals how distinctive architecture from the past half-century can enhance the quality of everyday life and experience. Fictional characters search, collide and find meaning within spaces that reshape their existence and outlook. Twists, encounters and revelations invite readers, in turn, to reflect on their own architecture of happiness. Filip Dujardin’s photography moves subtly between documentation and imagination. His images—renowned for their layered, sometimes almost fictional compositions—capture architecture not only as it is, but also as it can be conceived and imagined. With a keen eye for structure, construction, light and detail, his photographs resonate perfectly with both the context and atmosphere of this publication: at times observational, at times disorienting, yet always marked by a quiet precision that slows down and deepens the act of looking. Together, Pieters and Dujardin tell stories infused with nostalgia, indignation and tenderness, but also with an enduring affection for the places where we live, work and unwind.