ARCHITECT OF THE MONTH

Architecture for life The rise of the Bureau Architecture Engineering Verhaegen is the story of one of the Belgian greats. The firm saw birth some 55 years ago, created by Emile Verhaegen, with a philosophy of excellence that will resonate for decades and leave a mark on the Belgian architectural landscape across the board – from academia to policy and architectural style. TEXT: HARUN OSMANOVIC  |  PHOTOS: BUREAU ARCHITECTURE ENGINEERING VERHAEGEN

Since  the  beginning  of  the  year,  when Verhaegen,  now  Professor  Emeritus  of the  Université  Catholique  de  Louvain, stepped down from the direction of the Bureau  Architecture  Engineering  Verhaegen (BAEV), it is Jean Paul Muyle and  Nicolas  Van  Oost  who  took  over with  an  equal  motivation  to  put  architecture to the service of daily life. “When working on an architectural  pro ject, or any project that impacts the lives of men and women as much as a building  does,  the  stakes  are  rather  high,” explains Van Oost, “and this is why we at

50 |  Issue 12 |  December 2014

the Bureau Architecture Engineering Verhaegen  strive  to  reconcile  beauty  and practicality  in   e verything  that  we  do. People who inhabit our work must enjoy it, this is a core value of our firm.”

What  might  have  started  opportunistically,  winning  a  series  of  calls  for  projects in healthcare and the pharmaceuticals industry, has become a conscious strategy.

You can recognize the work of the firm throughout Belgium but also overseas, especially because of its modernity and in the way that light sinks inside and inundates the living areas. The tendency of  BAEV's  team  to  go  for  challenges and embrace projects with a high level of  technicality  is  probably  one  of  the reasons  behind  the  firm's  success.

As of late, the BAEV is working on a hospital with an integrated oncology centre in Liège,  with  the  objective  of  having  two laboratory levels within the same building. The  approach  will  allow  for  impressive multidisciplinary patient care and provide a  state-of-the-art  tool  to  researchers... but  as  one  can  imagine,  this  doesn't come without its set of challenges.