Whitechapel Art Gallery in London is the scene of Flemish architects Robbrecht & Daem’s first UK exhibition.
Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem, who are also a couple, belong to Belgium’s best known contemporary architects. Apart from designing office spaces and urban projects, they became famous for (re)shaping cultural-public building and museums.
Their landmark buildings in the Low Countries include the extension to the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam (photo 1) and the Concert Hall in Bruges (photo 2).
Career summary
The Whitechapel exposition Pacing through Architecture presents an overview of what the architects have realised thus far. You can see a slideshow with some of their best work here.
One of their most recent realisations is the Whitechapel Art Gallery itself (photo 3), which they have remodelled between 2007 and 2009. Their work was widely appreciated by the British public, press and architectural world alike.
“They have doubled the size (...) but you can scarcely see how it was done”, The Architects Journal pointed out last year, when the gallery was reopened. This appreciation seems to mirror the architect’s mission: “Simplicity without minimalism is what we aim for”, as Robbrecht once said. More recently, Robbrecht told the Belgian newspaper De Morgen that “you have to understand a location before you alter it”.
Robbrecht & Daem articles
The Low Countries Yearbook 10, that appeared in 2002, contained an article on the architect couple from Ghent, referring to their work as “essential” and having “a comforting effect”. Read it here.
In 2000, Ons Erfdeel vzw, the organisation that publishes The Low Countries Yearbook, issued Contemporary Architects of The Low Countries. In this book, Robbrecht & Daem’s work is described as “an unremitting quest for the essence of architecture”. Read the full entry here.
Subscribe