Office Kersten Geers . David Van Severen

This young Brussels firm of architects was set up in 2002 by Kersten Geers (1975, Ghent) and David Van Severen (1978, Ghent). Their credo is that architecture should consciously be seen as a sort of obstacle, without any form of rhetoric. In this regard Geers and Van Severen like to refer to rationalism. In 2003 Office completed its first project, the windowless reception area of an Antwerp notary's office. The finish, in illuminated walls made of modules in bronze-coloured mirrored glass, creates a spatial contradiction: an endless panorama unfolds in a minimal area. Since then they have redefined the garden of a house in Ghent to form a partially covered patio villa (2006) and have built a bridge in wooden slats for the Handelsbeurs in Ghent (2008). They will shortly be handing over a townhouse in the same city, with eighteen identical rooms. Geers and Van Severen both studied architecture at Ghent University and at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid. They then gained their practical experience with firms including Neutelings Riedijk Architects in Rotterdam (Geers) and Stéphane Beel Architects in Ghent (Van Severen). Both teach at the Technische Universiteit Delft, the Berlage Instituut in Rotterdam and Ghent University. In autumn 2008 they will represent Belgium at the eleventh international architecture biennale in Venice.