NERO

NERO is a Ghent architects office, founded in 1988 by William Lievens (°Beernem, 1948), Rudi De Backer (°1958) and (since 1993) Marianne Hofstede (°1958-†2013).

Nero’s work unites water and fire and is therefore all about concrete utopia. While the concrete nature of this utopia takes into account the laws of budget, timing and construction logic, the utopia or belief in a feasible dream world provides a fresh enrichment of the architectural language. Nero, the mad Roman emperor. Nero the roguish cartoon character…

For the architects of Nero, architecture is not a theoretical product. But in search of the aha experience, the domain of architecture is constantly explored: from sofa to city, from concrete to polyester, from image to structure, from dream to reality.”