David Van Severen among guest speakers at Cersaie 2024

(July 2024) | Cersaie 2024 will maintain its important function as a place for dialogue between industry professionals and the international architecture community through its “Building, Dwelling, Thinking” cultural programme. This year, the International Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings Exhibition will host a conference given by Belgian architect David Van Severen on Wednesday 25 September at 3 p.m.

David Van Severen was born in 1978 in Ghent. He studied at the University of Ghent and at the ETSA in Madrid, Spain. In 2002 he founded the Brussels-based studio OFFICE in partnership with Kersten Geers. OFFICE has received numerous honours and awards, including the Belgian Prize for Architecture, the Silver Lion at the 12th Venice Architecture Biennale and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Since its inception, OFFICE has envisioned architecture as a cultural endeavour aimed at improving the human environment. It views sustainability and responsible sourcing as increasingly critical factors in shaping our urban and social contexts, with architectural design playing a pivotal role in these transformations. OFFICE operates as a collaborative studio, uniting architects, developers and experts from various fields to guarantee the excellence of each project. The studio’s work is pragmatic and innovative, deeply anchored in diverse architectural traditions and ranging in scale and typology from furniture design to urban planning. Notable ongoing projects include the Aerospacelab megafactory in Charleroi, Belgium, the Swiss Radio and Television building in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the VRT headquarters in Brussels. The studio combines practice with academic research and teaching, creating synergies between practical and theoretical aspects of architecture. Kersten Geers and David Van Severen jointly cover the role of Design Critics in Architecture at Harvard GSD. Geers is also a full professor at the USI Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio. They have previously taught at a variety of institutions, including the Berlage Institute, TU Delft, Ghent University, Columbia University GSAPP, Yale School of Architecture and EPF Lausanne, while their academic work has been documented under the name of Office Without Office. Since 2018, OFFICE has been organised as a partnership led by Kersten Geers, David Van Severen and Jan Lenaerts together with associates Justine Rossillion, Alexander Smedts and Jacopo Lugli.

The headquarters of VRT, Flemish Radio and Television a Bruxelles, 2020 (Image by Filippo Bolognese)

See the Cersaie 2024 calendar of events