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The work and the personality of Philippe Samyn
are unique in the history of contemporary Belgian
architecture and engineering. Samyn is remarkable
for the way in which he balances the concerns of
the architect and the engineer, the type of organi-
sation he represents in terms of both conception
and execution, and for how little heed he pays to
current trends. Equally notable are his unwavering
commitment to high quality construction, his envi-
ronmental concerns and his aesthetic, which is at
once completely modern and highly classical.
Architecture today is forced to survive under difficult
conditions. Everywhere in the world there is substantial
construction, but much of it is poorly and wastefully
done. Architects generally fall into three different cat-
egories. There are architects who pursue their craft in
a more or less traditional way. There are the medium-
and large-sized companies (based on their turnover)
that are connected with major public and private
construction projects. Finally, there are the stars, the
divas, who are in the headlines one day and forgotten
the next, victims of changing public opinion or of those
who make and break such careers. These three catego-
ries do not include architects – more numerous than
one might imagine – whose priority is survival, who live
by their wits and work with unscrupulous companies. It
is very difficult to fit Philippe Samyn into a single one of
these categories. He has remained a craftsman through
his knowledge of materials and possesses an insatiable
curiosity regarding cutting-edge techniques. Yet he
constantly calls standard construction methods into
question. His company is large – the sum total of his
creations attests to that – but his architecture does not
obey official architectural canons. He is a star, but this
achievement is based on his strengths. Throughout his
projects and his constructions Samyn is both architect
and engineer. Moreover, his engineering capacities are
not merely limited to problems of stability, but rather
encompass the entire domain of the physics of con-
struction. It is for this reason that the present volume
is entitled Constructions. The title also pays homage
to the modest and brilliant Jean Prouvé, who called
himself a constructor (as he did not possess the aca-
demic title of engineer) but could show any number of
engineers a thing or two. Architecture is both a concep-
tual and a material construction. One simultaneously
builds a structure and structures a construction – and
in the process, one structures the self. It is rare to find
such a meeting of architectural and engineering ethics.
The pleasure one has in studying the work of Philippe
Samyn can be compared to a metaphysical or philo-
sophical pleasure, in the highest sense of the term.
That said, in contrast to the modernists of the inter-war
period, it seems to me that Philippe Samyn does not
impart messages beyond those which concern techni-
cal or aesthetic quality. With respect to the ideological
content of his architecture, he leaves this to others
to discover. Personally, I do not proclaim the death of
ideologies, as this in itself is ideological. Anyone who
works or creates does so under historically determined
conditions – this much is inescapable. Many have
criticised architects who saw themselves as saviours
of humanity; those who do so most loudly, however,
often repeat the error – by proposing new methods
of salvation. Of course, the urgency of our situation is
becoming apparent; it has become common parlance
to speak of dangers to the planet. I will not pass
judgement on this new form of millenarianism. But
perhaps architecture’s new challenge is seriously to
integrate environmental data into its constructions.
One swallow does not make a spring, and a few hun-
dred structures are not going to reverse the course of
things. Nevertheless, the dawning today of a greater
awareness about the impact of architecture on the
environment is doubtless the best thing that could
happen to us.
Philippe Samyn with his sons Victor
(standing) and Noé, at Tervuren
Museum in January 2008
INTRODUCTION
TO THE WORK
OF PHILIPPE SAMYN
Pierre Puttemans