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A tower in an arts centre, like one of Vladimir
Shukhov’s pylons; the canopy of a railway station,
suspended over the tracks like paragliding sails
caught in an updraft; slender wind turbines fixed
in the ground like needles thanks to their spi-
dery tie-rods. At every building site and in every
project, Philippe Samyn’s architecture calls for
lightness and an economic use of materials. Samyn
has turned structural quality and a strong typo-
logical expression into the foundation of a true
renaissance in the art of building.
In architecture, each building is a prototype, and
requires more intelligence than it does material. But
while materials are becoming increasingly expensive,
intelligence is now in abundance. In a global knowledge
economy, the world of construction cannot avoid
changes in technology nor the resulting environmental
standards that society requires. It is the responsibility
of the architect – a point of view that Philippe Samyn
doggedly defends – to ensure both the longevity of
buildings as well as their adaptability, and even their
recyclability. The influence of Samyn’s works is no
doubt based in a personal culture received from the
finest minds in civil engineering. Above all, however, it
is the result of his belief that architecture is, par excel-
lence, the meeting-place of art and technology, to such
an extent that the very idea that they are somehow in
opposition or conflict seems to have been forgotten.
Samyn’s powerful architectural synthesis draws its
strength from his ability to bring together these two
aspects of our culture.
But this virtue of thrift is complemented by a taste for
beauty. We expect more from architecture than just
usefulness and strength. This paradox – which is the
source of the originality of Philippe Samyn’s style –
arises from the necessary restraint of its architectonic
language that contrasts with the superfluity of its
interior capacity. Technical efficiency is nothing without
an attention to the flexible presence that life demands.
In the age of mass consumption and the networked
society, true wealth is no longer to be found in rarity or
exception, but rather in profusion and in the scalability
of uses. Samyn’s generosity lies in his ability to open
up multiple living spaces within the same house.
PREFACE
Jean Attali
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