Author Description

This is the long-awaited overview of the recent works of architect Stéphane Beel. As productive and versatile an architect as Stéphane Beel is, architectural criticism and reception of his work are never far behind - new works are followed almost immediately by new words. This combination of work and word has made Stéphane Beel into one of the most successful Belgian architects of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. From his oeuvre, eighteen projects have been selected that have never before appeared detail in a book. Each is described and commented on by one of the contributing authors. The book begins with an extensive introductory interview with the architect himself, in which - in eight thematic sections - the basic features of Beel's approach are discussed. The interview is entitled An Intense Order, which at once reflects the structure and the concept of this book: without putting forward a single, all-embracing interpretative system, it systematically endeavours to offer a variety of opportunities for capturing the spark that invariably lights up the work of Stéphane Beel. Text in English and Dutch. AUTHOR: Mil De Kooning (1955) is a Full Professor with the Department of Architecture & Urban Planning at Ghent University (UGent). He obtained his doctoral degree with a thesis on Willy Van Der Meeren, has authored articles and books on architecture and design, and has curated exhibitions in Belgium and abroad. He is the founder (1984) and editor-in-chief of the monographic series Vlees & Beton. Christophe Van Gerrewey (1982) is a graduate in Architecture (UGent) and Literature (KULeuven). He has been granted a PhD fellowship by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and is preparing a doctoral thesis on post-war architectural criticism with the Department of Architecture & Urban Planning at UGent. He has edited the collected essays of Geert Bekaert, and publishes on architecture, literature and art. ILLUSTRATIONS: 250 colour