Throughout its history, Archipel has been proud to pay special attention to the talent of young architects. Archipel will continue offering internships to young promising architects and showcasing their work. In the framework of our Young Architects lecture series, we present two fascinating and young architecture firms: Raamwerk and M u r m u u r. Each has a unique approach, but both have a delicate affinity with buildings and the scale of people’s daily activities. Today their work is helping to shape the architectural landscape. Because Archipel prefers to organize lectures on site, the “Young Architects # 05” lecture takes place in Lichtervelde, a project by Raamwerk.

m u r m u u r

m u r m u u r enjoys tackling complex design assignments and wants to create well thought-out buildings. Buildings with a sophisticated, customized design, that are sensitively integrated in their surroundings and with a keen eye for ecological aspects. Buildings that don’t want to be loud, but rather whisper (murmur) a poetic resistance to reality. The firm is still young and was founded in 2012 by Pieter Vanderhoydonck and Tinne Verwerft. They learned their craft in the leading architecture firms of Robbrecht & Daem and Marie-José Van Hee Architects, where they grew into fully fledged leaders of diverse, often complex projects, both large and small. Their design process starts by listening attentively to the client and making an accurate analysis of the location, programme, typology, needs and wishes… This also involves intense collaboration from the outset with advisory firms. Because m u r m u u r is fully committed to designing sustainable and ecological buildings, bio-engineer Koen Van Delsen, who has extensive site experience, was engaged as a partner. He further expands the sustainability and energy management aspect of their practice and supports the designers with this knowledge during the design process.

Raamwerk

Raamwerk is an architecture, urban planning and scenography collective. The firm was founded in 2014 by Gijs De Cock, Freek Dendooven and Jon D’haenens. They work on a variety of projects that are characterized by their purity. In a short space of time, thanks to Open Calls for Tender by the Flemish Government Architect, the firm launched itself. The fact that the firm is not only focused on a building portfolio, but also on vision, brought them several large commissions. Their first commission was the Youth Centre in Lichtervelde. Although their proposal was contrary to the original brief, the client was quickly convinced by their alternative answer to the challenge of creating a large, multi-purpose space. The space has been divided into compact rooms, rather like an oversized house, whereby the concatenation of the various spaces creates an interesting interaction between all the different components. A central outdoor space functions as a room without a roof that connects the different components. This square enables a gradual transition between public and private. Stimulating such interactions, between public and private, between open and closed, is an important theme in the portfolio of Raamwerk.