Register of building biographies

Some buildings remain silent, but most have a story to tell. They whisper, sigh or grumble, while others shout and roar, their history invariably intertwined with that of their inhabitants. But what if buildings could really speak to us? What would they tell us about their desires, memories and visions of the future?

The Register of Building Biographies collects the voices of buildings, with stories found in the cracks of their bricks, the stains on their floors, the passion in their rooms. Each portrait begins with the collection of the necessary facts, data and characteristics, supplemented with a literary text in which the building itself speaks. The final portrait is returned to the building itself as a certificate, where it becomes part of the buildings everyday reality.

The collection of testimonies that is created in this way contributes to the history of our built environment. The administrative process becomes a political intervention, creating a different kind of dialogue between residents and designers, between architecture and literature, between the everyday and the speculative. The dialogue encompasses memories and histories as well as future interventions and legacies. In this way, the Register acts as a counterweight to the pragmatic and functional bureaucracy in which buildings are often caught up.

The Register was established in January 2025 by archivists Bart Decroos and Laura Muyldermans. This first volume of seventeen biographies was created in collaboration with Archipel vzw, Nadine Laboratory for Contemporary Arts and Passa Porta, with the support of the Flemish Community. The original documents were donated to the Brussels Archives, where everything is available for public consultation.

On Thursday 11 December 2025, we invite you to the official presentation of the first edition of the Register of Architectural Biographical Portraits at the Brussels Archives.

During this evening, we will present the first seventeen architectural biographies: stories in which buildings themselves speak about their memories, desires and visions of the future.

Writers Persis Bekkering and Milady Renoir will read from the portraits, archivists Bart Decroos and Laura Muyldermans will discuss the project in more detail, and Els Silvrants-Barclay will talk to client Francis Carpentier and architects Els Van Meerbeek and Joost Raes (Carton123 architects) about the process they went through with some of the buildings.

See you then!

Kristien Daem

The Register of Building Biographies

Archivists: Bart Decroos, Laura Muyldermans

Architects: ampe.trybou architects, B-ILD, Carton123, Eagles of Architecture, Elmēs, fijn atelier, hé! Architects, Laura Muyldermans, nord, PLUSOFFICE, RE-ST

Building biography representatives: Anton Muyldermans, Audrey Gravet & Alexandre De Groodt, Ciska Lebeer, CSSI Maison Du Pont, Elisabeth Horth, Franciska Decuypere, Municipality of Galmaarden, Judith Tobac, Marc Massa & Roger Liekens, Maxime Desmet & Lola Valkenborg, Nina Serulus & Koen Galle, PLUSOFFICE, Saar Trybou, Sarah Van de Velde & Bram Vandemoortel, Thomas Werbrouck

Ghostwriters: Bart Decroos & Laura Muyldermans, Emerald Liu, Milady Renoir, Persis Bekkering, Tijl Nuyts

In collaboration with Archipel, nadine laboratory for contemporary arts, Passa Porta and with the support of the Flemish Community.