De l’image à l’image : Des miroirs dans les architectures d’OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen et architecten de vylder vinck taillieu

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La fille d’O, Anvers, 2016, architecten de vylder vinck taillieu. Photographie Filip Dujardin. © Filip Dujardin.
Published: Nov 21, 2024

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Wouter Van Acker
Université libre de Bruxelles, Faculty of architecture La Cambre Horta, hortence research lab
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-4449
Chancel Victoire
Université libre de Bruxelles, Faculty of architecture La Cambre Horta, Hortence research lab
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9711-8069

Abstract




The mirror in Western painting has often been interpreted as an arena for metadiscourse on the idea of representation, whose presence in a painting indicates the very workings of classical mimesis, and thus the means by which painting is produced. The use of mirrors in architecture has received little attention, and its reflexive qualities have rarely been acknowledged in analyses, in contrast to the treatment it has received in painting. This article examines the use of mirrors in contemporary architecture, namely in the projects of OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen and architecten de vylder vinck taillieu, where the mirror appears to be part of a more global iconic instrument to connect different states of architecture. The article argues that under these conditions, the mirror becomes a reflexive theoretical tool that inseparably unites the domains of the constructed and the image, thus confirming the intermedial nature of architecture.


Image: La fille d’O, Anvers, 2016, architecten de vylder vinck taillieu. Photographie Filip Dujardin. © Filip Dujardin.




Article Details

Issue
No. 9 (2024): Intermediality in Architecture: Representation and the Aesthetics of Reflexivity
Section
Thematic section
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Author Biographies

Wouter Van Acker, Université libre de Bruxelles, Faculty of architecture La Cambre Horta, hortence research lab

Wouter Van Acker is an engineer-architect and associate professor at the ULB Faculty of Architecture La Cambre-Horta, where he teaches architectural and art theory and a master’s design studio on adaptive reuse. He is co-coordinator of Hortence, ULB’s research centre for history, theory, and criticism. He received his PhD and master of engineering and architectural sciences from Ghent University. His research focuses on the history of postmodern architectural theory, the operational use of history in architectural design, the problem of late returns and styles, and adaptive reuse strategies for Brutalist and postmodern heritage in Belgium. Previously, he worked on the “architecture of knowledge” and the history of architectural epistemology in the early 20th century. He has co-edited several journal issues and volumes, including Architecture and Ugliness (Bloomsbury, 2020) and the thematic issue “Untimely Teachers” for Architectural Theory Review (2024).

Chancel Victoire, Université libre de Bruxelles, Faculty of architecture La Cambre Horta, Hortence research lab

Victoire Chancel is a practising architect, PhD candidate at the ULB and studio instructor at the ENSA-Marseille. Her research, funded by FRS-FNRS, investigates the recent shift of the architectural project from the constructive to the cultural sphere, and analyses the interplay between built form and image of recurring representations. She has pub- lished in various journals and books (A+, Bruxelles Patrimoine), including collectively (Oase, Les Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles), and participates in cultural and architectural media projects, including scenographies of exhibitions and interviews for the Cultural Institute of Architecture (ICA) of Wallonia-Brussels. In parallel, she works as an architect in Brussels with the collective L’Équipe, and in Marseille with various associations.