Embedded architectures

de Christoph Grafe, Vlaams Architectuurinstituut

The roots of the 'Architectural Review Flanders' No. 11 are in our daily life. The selected projects for 'Embedded Architectures' are ambitious, self-aware, have a strong presence and have been designed with the utmost care. And yet there never is a palpable sense of vanity. A vital prerequisite for the existence of these buildings is their daily use. What happens here happens as a matter of course but also becomes extraordinary. This architecture is not founded on formal acrobatics nor is it showy. It does not aim to entertain but instead penetrates every aspect of our existence. So when does the banal take on a special significance? When the shadow in the forest becomes a building. When a waterfall of rooms turns into a house. When care is incorporated in the village.0The editors of 'Embedded Architectures' have selected more than fifty projects that have successfully embedded themselves in our lives. The result is an exceptionally diverse and wide offering. The Architectural Review proves that architecture culture has penetrated every level of society, in even the most far-flung corner of Flanders: in child-care centres, schools, community centres, sport centres, housing, universities, psychiatric centres, fire stations, nursing homes and crematoriums. The book highlights the huge variety of today's architecture with buildings of a varying scale, various programmes and users, and sometimes with completely opposing spatial ambitions. And yet these buildings also have a lot in common. They have all been conceived as worlds that take the knowledge and the expectations of the clients and users seriously, without ever obliterating the architectural aspect. Architects rethink spatial constellations and devise formal and material solutions that make a wide range of forms of residence both pleasant and surprising.