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Sofa Talk w/ Dirk Somers: How to be a happy architect? 30/09

Dear students,

We invite you to a new series of ‘Sofa talks’ at our Brussels campus, where the sofa itself provides an intimate setting for critical conversations on architecture.

On Wednesday 30 September we will welcome our first guest, Dirk Somers from Bovenbouw, on the sofa. Bovenbouw is an Antwerp-based architecture practice. Before founding Bovenbouw, Somers led the office Huiswerk together with Erik Wieërs, and he has taught architectural design at TU Delft since 2003 and, as professor, at Ghent University since 2011.

Their work is guided by an open-minded, untimely approach to design. One fully freed from any compulsive desire to be avant-garde. Paradoxically, BovenBouw does not reject the notion of style: they try instead to reinvent a style specific to every situation, bringing old and new together in a blend of the everyday and the everlasting.

For Dirk, the evening will be about finding joy in the difficulties of our profession. We’ll talk about eclecticism and mannerism, and the role built references play in Bovenbouw’s projects, as well as adaptive reuse and the particular joys and difficulties of building up an architectural office.

There’s a lot to discuss so join us for fresh discussions, open dialogue, and an evening where everyone has a seat at the conversation and, quite naturally, wrapping the evening up with a drink!