Léon Verheyen // Architectural Portfolio

ARCHITECTURAL PORTFOLIO

Léon Verheyen

Selected works 2019 -2023

Education

2019

2022

2022

Léon Verheyen

Brussels, BE

Contact

E: leonverheyen@outlook.be

P: +32471304645

I: leon_verheyen

2022

Summer 2023

High School Graduate in Architecture at Heilig Graf Turnhout

Bachelor Degree in Architecture at KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture

Master of Architecture at KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture (in progress)

Erasmus exchange, Master of Architecture at IUAV Venezia (in progress)

Summerschool ‘Open for maintenance’ -Biennale Architettura 2023, German Pavilion (selected to participate)

Skills

Architectural representation

experienced in modelmaking, sketching, graphic translation of design concepts and ideas

Software

AutoCAD

Rhino

Photoshop

Indesign

Illustrator

QGIS

Revit

Office

Languages

Dutch

English

French

Italian

Publications

2023 Student work published in Sint-Lucas Architecture Book #5

2019-2020

Academic Bachelor in Architecture

Year 1

plan and surroundings

section and surroundings

Across the pond, an exercise in spatiality creates a room full of mystery. Like Alice opening the door to wonderland, those who venture in the pavilion, get surprised at every turn. As a narrow hallway opens up, you find yourself walking through the frame of a landscape painting. A central room, the heart of wonderland, works as a gathering space, looking out, through the frame, over the nearby pond and park.

In an urban park, two housing projects - one for a composer, the other for a couple - were proposed. ‘Hidden’ within groves of trees, the natural surrounding inspired the open configuration of the houses, in which the outside parkspace becomes an actively used part of the house. Furthermore, the rhythmic method of joining the structure, defines the architectural character of these houses, both on the in- and outside, hiding themselves in plainsight within the rhythm of trees.

concept sketch interior

plan and surroundings

concept sketch exterior

2020-2021

Academic Bachelor in Architecture

Year 2

papenvest, urban setting

Situated as stone’s throw away from Brussels’ city center, this Haussmann-inspired reinterpretation of the existing ‘Papenvest’-social housing blocks, seeks to mutually involve the communities if these housing blocks and the bustling citylife outside by breaking open the existing typology. Divided in three islands, the Haussmann-typology is used to create intimate inner-courtyards within the blocks, while the façade is opened up to the street to provide a social connection with the surrounding neighbourhood.

plan, ground floor appartment

plan, middle floor appartment

plan, top floor appartment

rendering of the structure

concept image of the structure

IT IS WHAT IT IS

IT IS WHAT IT IS

I love subversive humour, freckles, knees, the long hair of women, the laugh of young children at liberty, a young girl running in the street.I wish for real love, the impossible and the utopian. I fear knowledge of my exact limits.

I detest my own past and that of others. I detest resignation, patience, professional heroism and all those nice, obligatory sentiments. I also detest the decorative arts, folklore, publicity, the voice of speakers, aerodynamics, boy scouts, the smell of gasoline, topical matters and drunkards.

Léon Verheyen -Rebuild

Léon Verheyen -Roofscape

2021-2022

Academic Bachelor in Architecture

Year 3

plan, ground floor

plan, first floor

plan, second floor

Ilôt-404, a lot with a partly demolished school on the northside of Brussels, required a new purpose.The neighbourhood inspired this new purpose, as the lot was flanked by a technical school on one side and a community center providing workshops, sports, dance and music classes, on the other. Both of these however, were in desperate need of more workshop space.The idea rose to create a ‘productivity-hub’ in this northern part of the city, providing workshops, an eventhall and a neighbourhood-canteen, thus actively involving the local community.

The proposed building consists of a perforated volume, taking the shape from the lot, elevated from the groundfloor. Thus, at streetlevel, the lot becomes a spacious citysquare, allowing the freely coming and going of different users of the complex. The perforations, dictated by the structural grid, allow light to come down to the groundfloor. The first floor accomodates all the workshop spaces, serviced by both in- and outside hallways. Finally the top floor houses the community-functions, isloated as different volumes on top of the building, giving the building as a whole a striking identity

circulariumsite, urban setting

Located along the old Zenne-river trajectory, the project plays a part in a bigger plan to convert the old trajectory into a linear urban park and green transportation axis crossing the city. The ‘circulariumsite’ itself is located on the southern part of this trajectory, in Brussels’ Cureghem district. In this district particularly, the city blocks are extremely dense, blocking the trajectory of the proposed park. These properties became the parameters for the project. How to validate this often unused or underused space? How to open up the cityblocks to the proposed park?

concept sketch

concept sketch

In the specific case of the circulariamsite those problems were tackled by firstly cutting open the existing brick building flanking the park. Furthermore, the removed bricks were used to make a concrete volume, the only designed part of the project. This added volume would ‘charge’ the cutopen building with a new urban function such as social housing or a community center, allowing the new function to freely use the space of the pre-existing architecture. The construction crane becomes, after construction of the concrete volume, permanently part of the structure, symbolic for a city ever under construction, ever changing.

concept sketch

siteplan

section plan, ground floor

plan, first floor plan, second floor

2022-2023

Academic Master in Architecture

Year 1

analysis of the urban fabric

Scoula A. Beltrame, nuova sede // Vittorio Veneto, Italia

A new meeting place is emerging between the historic centre of Serravalle and the centre of Vittorio Veneto. The two schools activate a previously underused part of the urban fabric. The two main axes, the Meschio river and the main road, are the lifelines of this new green centre. Both the design of the schools and the surrounding campus focus on flexibility and multi-purpose use. Outside school hours, the schools open their doors to local residents, helping to build a closer community. A link connecting two cores

plan, ground floor and surroundings

plan, first floor and surroundings

plan, second floor and surroundings

Scoula A. Beltrame, nuova sede // Vittorio Veneto, Italia

concept image, interior

concept image, exterior elevation