This week, Gianpiero Venturini has interviewed the architect Stéphane Beel, in order to learn more about his professional career and his opinion on the profession of the architect. He finished the interview with a council for the future generations of this profession.
PAST questions the conditions that allowed him to embark on a path of success that led his company to be among the most internationally recognized. Stéphane explains the reasons for his decision to study architecture, anecdotes and his first assignments.
PAST questions the conditions that allowed him to embark on a path of success that led his company to be among the most internationally recognized. Stéphane explains the reasons for his decision to study architecture, anecdotes and his first assignments.
GV: Can you briefly go through the most important points of the beginning of your career and the reasons you decided to study architecture and to start the profession?
STÉPHANE BEEL: "After school, I didn’t want to go to a big studio, I wanted to learn for myself. It was a bit stupid also because of course you have to learn from someone. But I did learn from the books and so on, and I had to earn money so I got a commission for a small house. I asked my clients, “Can I build this house, also, by myself?” They said okay. I’m not a mason so I don’t put bricks one on top of another, I worked on this house and I could do it myself as a non-specific constructor with materials that are used in building. So at that moment, I was working on architecture with my hands. It was really architecture with a big ‘a’ for me. I was working in my working clothes, pouring water to make concrete. At the end, when it was finished, we got an important prize for it so it was the beginning of my career. I felt I had to be very exact and that I had to do it myself so I never trusted anyone else to do it. And that’s why I did it and also because of the earnings. I just thought I’d do it on my own and then commissions came."
STÉPHANE BEEL: "After school, I didn’t want to go to a big studio, I wanted to learn for myself. It was a bit stupid also because of course you have to learn from someone. But I did learn from the books and so on, and I had to earn money so I got a commission for a small house. I asked my clients, “Can I build this house, also, by myself?” They said okay. I’m not a mason so I don’t put bricks one on top of another, I worked on this house and I could do it myself as a non-specific constructor with materials that are used in building. So at that moment, I was working on architecture with my hands. It was really architecture with a big ‘a’ for me. I was working in my working clothes, pouring water to make concrete. At the end, when it was finished, we got an important prize for it so it was the beginning of my career. I felt I had to be very exact and that I had to do it myself so I never trusted anyone else to do it. And that’s why I did it and also because of the earnings. I just thought I’d do it on my own and then commissions came."
PRESENT shows the unique characteristics of your study, understanding how they work and how they have grown over time. Thanks to this interview, we understand your practice and we can understand the reasons for your success.
GV: Is there any peculiar thing that represent the organisation or the way your office
works?
SB: "The people working in my office know how I deal with coincidence, they know I love to enter a coincidence, that you have to cherish it and you can take it into account and make positive things about it. They read about my early works and about my way of working and they come to me and ask to work with me. They know what direction we are working in and, at the same time, they work against it to try something new. For each commission, the project architect is responsible for that project and he goes to the client or he goes with me. He works on it from the start till the end."
works?
SB: "The people working in my office know how I deal with coincidence, they know I love to enter a coincidence, that you have to cherish it and you can take it into account and make positive things about it. They read about my early works and about my way of working and they come to me and ask to work with me. They know what direction we are working in and, at the same time, they work against it to try something new. For each commission, the project architect is responsible for that project and he goes to the client or he goes with me. He works on it from the start till the end."
FUTURE seeks to deliberate on relevant issues of today and tomorrow. Stéphane Beel suggests a selection of key concepts that represent his own approach, while trying to anticipate future trends in architecture. The interview ends with a council aimed at the new generations of architecture students.
GV: What would you say about the future of architecture?
SB: "We have to deal with a lot of changes now and the changes are happening more rapidly, we are dealing constantly with higher demand of technology and technology has to help us. It can help us to analyse all the stuff that is coming from all around and we have to have more specialists to deal with things that are more specific. We have to look to the city, to the global things - to think global and act local. Be aware of what’s happening in the world and act appropriately. These technical things can help us with reforming the city which means we don’t build only with architecture, for example, in Antwerp, we have the ring road, and they say we have to close the ring because of all the issues and that it’s no good for the people. I think it’s twenty years too late. They can better yet invest in things of the future, make the cars smarter, or maybe in twenty years, we won’t have cars anymore, we’ll be flying. Maybe we’ll be making buildings not with entrances at the bottom, but at the top. We have to think about all this at the same time."
SB: "We have to deal with a lot of changes now and the changes are happening more rapidly, we are dealing constantly with higher demand of technology and technology has to help us. It can help us to analyse all the stuff that is coming from all around and we have to have more specialists to deal with things that are more specific. We have to look to the city, to the global things - to think global and act local. Be aware of what’s happening in the world and act appropriately. These technical things can help us with reforming the city which means we don’t build only with architecture, for example, in Antwerp, we have the ring road, and they say we have to close the ring because of all the issues and that it’s no good for the people. I think it’s twenty years too late. They can better yet invest in things of the future, make the cars smarter, or maybe in twenty years, we won’t have cars anymore, we’ll be flying. Maybe we’ll be making buildings not with entrances at the bottom, but at the top. We have to think about all this at the same time."
