Laura Muyldermans

The construction of The Bruges Diptych has been delayed, so we have to wait a while to hear Laura Muyldermans speak. On 1 July she will open the program of Triennial Bruges 2021: TraumA.

Julie Guiches

It will be a lecture that picks up on the inspiration of the moment and local insights. Laura Muyldermans is ready for this interesting lecture!

Triennial Bruges 2021 is launching the theme TraumA for the third edition, diving into the “uncanny” history and reality of Bruges. Historical layers are uncovered, forgotten or hidden storylines are discussed. This edition explores the fine line between dream and trauma, between paradise and hell. It responds to the imagination, to the pomp and circumstance, but also to the “uncanny” that is present underground. TraumA balances between the present and the hidden, between private and public, between dream and nightmare. Laura Muyldermans, a young architect from Brussels who experiments with space and balances on the fine line between architecture and contemporary art, explores what togetherness can mean in this context. Or is it just NOT being together?

Laura Muyldermans studied architecture at KU Leuven, Istanbul Technical University and Tokyo University, after which she worked at DVVT for seven years. Since 2018 she has focused entirely on her own office and was appointed as a practical assistant at the KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture.

Her work has been presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale (2016), the Stam Museum in Ghent (2017), the Bozar in Brussels (2019) and the Oslo Architecture Triennale (2019). With contributions to workshops, debates, publications and lectures such as in Venice, Brussels, Dublin, Liège and Ghent, Laura Muyldermans actively participates in the architectural culture in Brussels and beyond.

Office – a construction practice and its mirroring practice

In her practice, Brussels architect Laura Muyldermans departs, mainly from conversations and exchanges with various discussion partners. Any exchange of views with users, colleagues or accidental encounters forms the basis of the design. They broaden our view, determine new choices and create possibilities. As a result, Laura is always looking for its social relevance. It forces us to keep thinking about how and why we organize an architectural practice.

It also led to a parallel architectural practice that wishes to act independently of demand. Looking for the possibilities to design as an architect based on a different need. This unsolicited action manifests itself in a mirroring practice. It is a medium within our architectural practice to safeguard the free, critical thinking of the architect with regard to what is required. The mirror practice stimulates acting from its own conceptual framework and questions the question. She wants to be able to question herself at all times and to deeply inspire his building practice.

Michiel De Cleene





Tim Van de Velde

The entirety of both practices forms a collection of interventions and buildings that sharpen or question the usual experience of what is available in a simple way. They reflect on the potential of a place or look for an interaction between users.

In order to achieve the symbiosis between the efficiency of a permanent team and the depth of various associations, the agency adopts an independent collaboration method. Architectural practice aspires to various collaborations that transcend the project without a fixed structure. It is at this point that the sharpness lies in thinking about the design process of the desk.

An attitude that also goes hand in hand with a dynamic and social workplace. In 2019, the agency therefore joined Level Five, a studio cooperative organized by 80 artists in the old Actiris building in Brussels. A productive work culture from which we help shape our society in a direct and indirect way. It gives an idea of ​​how we are in practice, how we look at the design and how we enter into a dialogue.

The lecture will take place in the pavilion The Bruges Diptych, close to the former home of the Flemish primitives Jan van Eyck. This pavilion was built as a base for the public program of the Bruges Triennial 2021. The architectural diptych originated from Lott’s fascination for doppelners, both in people and in architecture. The building was created by duplicating an existing rear façade by adding a copy of the original façade. With this construction, the architect plays with the tension between interior and exterior, with what can be seen with the naked eye and what goes on behind the facades of a city.
The lecture can be followed both live and online.