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needs in a masterful solution. For them, there were
no secondary problems, even if the hierarchy of forms
required a perfect aesthetic result. Recent research into
the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, built by Victor
Horta between 1919 and 1928, reveals an astounding
(and, unavoidably, partly intuitive) knowledge of the
physical characteristics of construction, concurrent with
a balanced response to the problems of the interior
climate, light and acoustics. Structural issues are com-
pletely mastered. Too often, architects have a tendency
to limit the composition of the architecture and the
construction to that of its load-bearing structures and
the mechanical functions of the interior circulation of
people and materials. Horta has created a perfectly
accomplished synthesis.
Like the composition of the Design Board offices
(01-147)
, those of the small school in Athus in
1981–1984
(01-102)
and of the Boulanger offices
in Waterloo in 1988–1990
(01-200)
reveal Philippe
Samyn’s increasingly pronounced preference for a geo-
metric control of both space and lighting. This is under-
pinned by a skilful use of windows that sometimes
results in a sort of dematerialisation of the architecture.
Samyn began researching fractals in 1990, but the
architect’s earlier works seem already to foretell this
interest. These creations show that modernism is not
– as many commentators have insisted – a matter of
opposition between traditional (if not reactionary), aca-
demic symmetry and progressive asymmetry of organic
connotation. Those who believe this are unacquainted
with both the surprising novelty of Henry van de
Velde’s design for the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo
(1919–1926) and the timelessness of Erik Gunnar
Asplund’s library in Stockholm (1918–1927). The library
project acted as a kind of bridge between Claude
Nicolas Ledoux’s ‘revolutionary’ architecture of the
late nineteenth century and – via Arne Jacobsen – the
work of the young Belgian architects mentioned previ-
ously. Needless to say, most of these works have been
neglected in the many histories of modern architecture.
Philippe Samyn does not conceal the deep influence
that both Asplund and Jacobsen had on him. In the
work of Philippe Samyn, the Athus primary school and
the Design Board offices appear to mark a new stage
in spatial composition and a deeper integration of the
third dimension. Of course, such integration was not
lacking in the architect’s earlier works, but it was used
to put the finishing touches to the organisation of the
layout. On the contrary, we are now in the presence
of a major architectural element, what Le Corbusier
called the ‘inexpressible space’.
6
This is, however,
unrelated to Adolf Loos’s Raumplan, which includes
a sort of dynamic ‘fourth dimension’ that plays both
on the promenade architecturale (the journey through
a building) and on the personal and intimate nature of
this promenade.
7
From here on, Philippe Samyn’s mas-
tery of architectural scale would become increasingly
polished.
It is worth emphasising that this treatment had a par-
ticular effect on architecture’s social function. Although
generally limited to monumental creations (the only
types of structures that were designed by architects
who were often painters, sculptors or landscape artists
as well), Renaissance and Baroque trompe-l’œils indi-
cate objective and subjective distance, often for ideo-
logical (political or metaphysical) reasons. The sudden
entry of ‘architecture by architects’ into the rhythm of
everyday life brought the practice of illusion to an end,
as did neoclassicism’s distrust with respect to recent
architectural ‘excesses’. Henceforth, the vision was
altered, and although the function did not always give
rise to the form, it could keep things from getting out of
hand. Lyricism could thus be practised on other themes.
For the school in Athus and the Design Board
offices – both relatively modest endeavours – the
architectural scale is adapted for practicality as well
as for the vision it offers users. Fragment and unite,
illuminate or obfuscate, separate or join: these are
the fundamental elements in the invention of a new
vocabulary. Henceforth, the geometry of these new
compositions would adapt to the creation of a space
01-102
State primary school,
Athus, 1981–1982
01-379
Espace Christian Dotremont,
Nivelles-Nord, 1998–1999