Christophe van Gerrewey
EPFL ENAC IA ACHT
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+41 21 693 52 03
+41 21 693 32 57
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Fields of expertise
Criticism, History and Theory of Architecture (and Literature and the Visual Arts)
Philosophical and Cultural Views on Architecture and Urban Planning
Philosophical and Cultural Views on Architecture and Urban Planning
Biography
Christophe Van Gerrewey (1982) is an architecture critic and theorist, writing about contemporary buildings, their recent histories and intellectual dimensions, and their connections to society, philosophy, art and literature. In particular, he is an expert on the work of OMA/Rem Koolhaas as well as on Belgian architecture. He is one of the editors of architecture journal OASE, and of art and culture journal De Witte Raaf. In his writings, architecture is considered as a source of comprehensive and integrated knowledge that pertains to diverse disciplines – a way of looking at, and of understanding, many aspects of the world we live in. This gives his activities an unusually broad and comprehensive aspect, transcending divisions of knowledge. Since 2015, he is Assistant Professor Tenure Track of architecture theory at EPFL Lausanne. He was trained as an architect-engineer at Ghent University and as a literary theorist at KU Leuven. In Dutch, his mother tongue, he has published three novels and a collection of essays between 2013 and 2017.Publications
Infoscience publications
2013
"Hope has returned": The glorious reception of OMA/Rem Koolhaas in the Dutch-speaking world
Architectural Theory Review. 2013. DOI : 10.1080/13264826.2013.875615.2014
Essay : rediscovering Juliaan Lampens
A+U - Architecture and Urbanism. 2014.Amnesty for the city : the Hoogpoort design for the Carrefour de l'Europe in Brussels (1983)
Journal of Architecture. 2014. DOI : 10.1080/13602365.2014.931330.2015
The Frankfurt experience : an office city
OASE. 2015.Modern isolation : frigolite by Michel François
Art by Commission : 2006-2013; Brussels: Kunstcel Vlaams Bouwmeester, 2015.Cum fundamento in re : architecture and reality
Einheitsdenken : Figuren von Ganzheit, Präsenz und Transzendenz nach der Postmoderne; Nordhausen: Verlag Traugott Bautz, 2015.OMA/Rem Koolhaas. The First Decade: 1978-1989
Rotterdam: NAi010.Highest Fidelity
FORUM. 2015.Hotspots. De traditie van het unieke architectuurobject
DE WITTE RAAF. 2015.Lugar comun y cultura en la arquitectura belga
PLOT Revista. 2015.(K)eine architektonische kultur als herausforderung
Arch+. 2015.How soon is now? Ten problems and paradoxes in the work of Dogma
LOG Journal for Architecture. 2015.Imagining the Dutch polder landscape. A design by OMA from 1986
Journal of Landscape Architecture. 2015. DOI : 10.1080/18626033.2015.1094900.2016
Zoeken naar een alternatief: tien verbeeldingen van de moderne stad
Andersland : Thomas More en de utopische traditie; Polis, 2016. p. 258-278.Dirk Braeckman. DW B 161 5 8 X F.B. - D.B.
MER Paper Kunsthalle.Geert Bekaert (1928-2016). Le penseur dans tout ce qui est construit
A+. 2016.Architectuur studeren. Gesprekken over ontwerpstudio's en onderwijs met Kersten Geers, Dirk Somers, Jan De Vylder en Jo Taillieu
De Witte Raaf. 2016.Questions That History Cannot Answer. Three Positions from 1981
Histories of PostWar Architecture. 2016.Hubert Damisch. Noah’s Ark. Essays on Architecture
sITA – studies in History and Theory of Architecture. 2016.Living in Liberty after 1968: Charles Vandenhove versus Lucien Kroll
OASE. 2016.Manifesta 11, Zürich
DE WITTE RAAF. 2016.OASE 97. Action and Reaction in Architecture
NAi010.‘Those Who Wait’. Siegfried Kracauer, architecture and the 21th-century precariat
2016. European Architectural History Network. Fourth International Meeting, Dublin.La cohabitation des langages. S,M,L,XL et Roland Barthes
Matières. 2016.Metropolisarchitecture. Recent work by Xaveer De Geyter Architects
Flanders Architectural Review N° 12. Tailored Architecture; VAi, 2016.Highest Fidelity
Building upon building; NAi010, 2016.Order, Disorder. Ten Choices and Contradictions in the Work of OFFICE
OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen: Volume 2; Walther König, 2016.Abandon Your Pencils. The Use and Abuse of Architecture Theory for Life
Archithese. 2016.Populaire ou élitaire? Dix exemples d’architecture postmoderne à Bruxelles
Bruxelles Patrimoine. 2016.The Villa dall’Ava: Reality without Restraint
On Discomfort: Moments in a Modern History of Architectural Culture; Routledge, 2016.2017
A History of Philosophy and Architecture: when and how they spoke about and with each other
Uppsala Philosophy Days, Uppsala, Sweden, 25-27/08/2017.Notre Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo
De Groene Amsterdammer. 2017.Story Generator d’Ana Torfs
Bruxelles, 25/03/2017.Un Pritzker à Gand
A+. 2017.Architectuurkritiek: voor iedereen? Architectuurkritiek in Vlaanderen sedert Geert Bekaert
Archipel, Ghent, Belgium, 21/02/2017.Diorama's en dia's. De rust van de werkelijkheid
De Witte Raaf. 2017.Juliaan Lampens. Vandenhaute-Kiebooms House
SOS Brutalism. A Global Survey; Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Wüstenrot Foundation, Park Books, 2017.Transparency and Obstacle in the Très Grande Bibliothèque
2017. The Limits of Transparency, Brussels, December 11-12, 2017.Features of the Human Scene. People's Expectations and Architecture
Robbrecht en Daem: An Architectural Anthology; Mercatorfonds/Yale University Press, 2017. p. 402-408.War of the worlds. Antwerp Port House by Zaha Hadid Architects
Architectural Review. 2017.Something Completely Different
E-Flux Architecture. 2017.Les fabriques de la petite ceinture en Folly
2017Le “beau” aujourd'hui? De la promenade urbaine à la redynamisation du site de Bellerive, Lausanne
2017Le Locataire. Architecture métropolitaine, 3e itération: Sevran, Seine-Saint-Denis (F)
2017Paris - Le jardin des Halles
2017“Store-Age”, stockage vertical pour l'E-commerce (New York)
2017Les nouvelles halles Laïssac de Montpellier (F)
2017Rencontres à la fin des temps. L'espace funéraire reconsidéré
2017Nightclub
2017Le neutre: application 1
2017Goodbye Paper. The Netherlands Dance Theater by OMA/Rem Koolhaas (1980-2016)
AA Files. 2017.Ulrich Loock. Gregor Schneider - Wall Before Wall
De Witte Raaf. 2017.David Lynch: Twin Peaks
De Standaard Weekblad. 2017.RTS Lausanne, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen
OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen: Volume 3; Walther König, 2017.Border Garden, Office Kersten Geers David Van Severen
OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen: Volume 1; Walther König, 2017.Reflecting a new civic pride. Town Hall Deinze, Tony Fretton Architects
The Architects' Journal. 2017.1989: The Year Architecture Broke? OMA and the Theory of the IJplein
2017. Theory’s History, 196X - 199X, Challenges in the historiography of architectural knowledge, Leuven, February 8-10, 2017.It's Done
2017-12-15.2018
Dream and Function. The Metropolis of Roland Barthes and OMA/Rem Koolhaas
CityLab VI: City Aesthetics and Citizenship, University of Antwerp, July 5, 2018.The legacy of Geert Bekaert
The Eindhoven School, Technical University Delft, March 29, 2018.History and Theory without Criticism?
Whatever Happened to History and Theory in Dutch Architecture?, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, March 8, 2018.Relevancy. OMA/Rem Koolhaas
Student Association OSA, Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, May 7, 2018.Written Architecture: OMA/Rem Koolhaas
Student Association DLK, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ghent, Belgium, 19 april 2018.Contours du quotidien
2018"Karnayo Palamidas". École de construction de bateaux en bois et résidences pour étudiants à Hydra, Grèce
2018Common
2018De la "Divine Comédie" à l’Existentium: quartier agricole à Romanel-Vernand-Cheseaux (VD)
2018"Rumba Catalana" - Un "velum" pour la célébration. Arsenal, San Jaume, Perpinya, Pyrénées Orientales, F
2018Musée Richard Serra, Bâle (CH)
2018Criticizing the Museum. Stedelijk Base, exhibition design by AMO/Rem Koolhaas & Federico Martelli, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Architectural Histories. 2018.Farewell to architecture: contrasts and common ground in Flanders and Wallonia
THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW. 2018.Juliaan Lampens' idiosyncratic brutalism
L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui. 2018.Exaltation of Apartness? The Building (José Araguez, ed.)
THE PLAN Journal. 2018. DOI : 10.15274/tpj.2018.03.01.04.The Facts Have the Floor: Against Interpretation, Susan Sontag
SAN ROCCO. 2018.Notre Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo (1831)
18 klassiekers om het heden te begrijpen; Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018.(Architecture's) power and the (Arnhem) panopticon: from Foucault's description to Koolhaas' appropriation and reply
4th Biennial Conference of the International Society for the Philosophy of Architecture (ISPA) – “Building as Service”, 25-28 July 2018.Reviews September 2018
Architectural Histories. 2018-10-01. DOI : 10.5334/ah.334.2019
Attractive Opposites. A Conversation with Francesco Marullo
OASE 102 - Schools & Teachers. The Education of an Architect in Europe; Rotterdam: nai010, 2019.Le monde nouveau de Charlotte Perriand
De Witte Raaf. 2019.Versies van een paviljoen van Dan Graham. Interview met architect Dirk Defraeije over Chambres d'Amis
De Witte Raaf. 2019.Rebecca Horn. Théâtre des métamorphoses/Körperphantasien
De Witte Raaf. 2019.Jeunes artistes en Europe. Les métamorphoses
De Witte Raaf. 2019.T.J. Clark, Heaven on Earth. Painting and the Life to Come
De Witte Raaf. 2019.Transparante architectuur in de twintigste eeuw: van Le Corbusier tot Rem Koolhaas
De Witte Raaf. 2019.Wie over architectuur wil spreken, sta op en spreek over architectuur
De Witte Raaf. 2019.OMA/Rem Koolhaas: A Critical Reader from 'Delirious New York' to 'S,M,L,XL'
Berlin/Boston: Birkhäuser.Choisir l'architecture : critique, histoire et théorie depuis le XIXe siècle
Lausanne: PPUR Press.Choosing architecture : criticism, history and theory since the 19th century
Lausanne: Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes.Plateforme.Espace sportif, incubateur d’idées, belvédère public
2019Tour d'occupation(s).Condensateur social des conditions de vie métropolitaine (Londres, GB)
2019Immeuble d’habitation Paris – La multiplicité dans le logement (F)
2019Marseille-Nord, prototype d'une grande composition suburbaine (F)
2019Panorama de Morat.Visiter une coquille de noix
2019Retour à la mer(e), Santorini surrationnelle, Grèce
2019Habiter des silos.Restructuration des moulins Rod à Orbe (VD)
2019Au-delà de la reproduction: un nouveau foyer communautaire à Bâle
2019Schools & Teachers. The Education of an Architect in Europe
Rotterdam: nai010.Steel Magnet. De Krook by RCR and Coussée & Goris
THE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW. 2019.Philippe Parreno. Weg met de werkelijkheid
De Groene Amsterdammer. 2019.A Weissenhofsiedlung for Amsterdam. OMA's IJplein
LOG. 2019.Outreach Extensions: OMA/Rem Koolhaas Exhibitions as Self-Critical Environments
Architectural Theory Review. 2019-08-02. DOI : 10.1080/13264826.2019.1616665.2020
Conversation avec Rem Koolhaas
2020.Ettore Sottsass & Andrea Branzi
De Witte Raaf. 2020.Tauba Auerbach. S v Z
De Witte Raaf. 2020.Matt Mullican. Representing the Work
De Witte Raaf. 2020.Francesca Torzo, Z33
De Witte Raaf. 2020.Philippe Van Snick. Territorium
De Witte Raaf. 2020.Pierre Huyghe
De Witte Raaf. 2020.Bernd Lohaus. Im Sein Bei
De Witte Raaf. 2020.Buren. Kijken kijken kijken
De Witte Raaf. 2020.The Last Judgment Sculpture. Anthony Caro
De Witte Raaf. 2020.Mondo Mendini
De Witte Raaf. 2020.Nous en savons désormais trop. Déchiffrer la lecture de Penser
Matières. 2020.Seven aims and claims of the architectural model
Isle of Models. Architecture and Scale; Zürich: Triest Verlag, 2020.‘Luc Deleu says farewell to architecture’, ‘The Red House’
Luc Deleu & T.O.P. Office: Future Plans 1970-2020; Antwerp: Flanders Architecture Institute, 2020.We know too much. Reading Pevsner Reading
AA Files. 2020.Reading Rem Koolhaas
100 Day Studio, Architecture Foundation London, England, July 28, 2020.‘Repairing the future’, public conversation with Rem Koolhaas and Laura Herman
Repairing the Future - Rem Koolhaas, BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium, August 26, 2020.A Large, Finite Permutation of Specific, Discrete Variants: Dan Graham’s Children’s Pavilion at Chambres d’Amis (1986) (Part 1)
Seminario internazionale "Possibilità di narrazioni, ritualità e astrazioni in arte e architettura", University of Bologna, Italy, November 12, 2020.A Large, Finite Permutation of Specific, Discrete Variants: Dan Graham’s Children’s Pavilion at Chambres d’Amis (1986) (Part 2)
Seminario internazionale "Possibilità di narrazioni, ritualità e astrazioni in arte e architettura", University of Bologna, Italy, November 19, 2020.‘The Making of an Avant-Garde. The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies’, film screening and roundtable with Diana Agrest and Kim Förster
The Making of an Avant-Garde: The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies 1967-1984, Lausanne, Switzerland, November 23, 2020.Seven Questions
Seven Questions Series, Studio Jan De Vylder, ETH Zürich, Switzerland, November 24, 2020.TXT
URA Yves Malysse Kiki Verbeeck Architectural Projects 2002-2020; London: Koenig Books, 2020.Guérilla pour la grande beauté
2020Palais spéculatif, condensateur socio-économique
2020Léman City Express: proposition pour une ville linéaire le long de l'autoroute A1
2020Lupa. Revalorisation de la vallée de la Louve, nouvelle promenade urbaine et activateur social, Lausanne (CH)
2020"A Walk of Art". Promenade muséale pour la collection de la Tate (Londres, GB)
2020"Venice Art Center" - Un nouveau centre d'art sur le Canal Grande
2020"Rheinkilometer 686-687". Un seuil climatique face à Cologne (DE)
2020Le Palais Social, Contre-projet pour l’île Seguin
2020The right to architecture: Geert Bekaert (1928–2016), a critic from Belgium
The journal of Architecture. 2020. DOI : 10.1080/13602365.2020.1767175.After the Gold Rush. Observation Tower Negenoord
Architectural Review. 2020.Architecture / Philosophy: how, why, and what the questions seek in three case-studies from the late 20th century
Lausanne, EPFL, 2020. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-7704.Benjamin's Flu
Architectural Theory Review. 2020-08-27. DOI : 10.1080/13264826.2020.1804981.The panopticon, an architectural-philosophical object
2020-12-01.Jean et Jean face-à-face: le dialogue entre l’architecture et la philosophie à travers Baudrillard et Nouvel
Séminaire HEPIA: Penser et Habiter le Monde, Geneva, Switzerland, December 14-18, 2020.2021
Struggling with gravity. XDGA's Province Headquarter
A+. 2021.Savoir supérieur : Le Rolex Learning Center de SANAA à EPFL depuis 2010
Lausanne: EPFL Press.Higher knowledge : SANAA's Rolex Learning Center at EPFL since 2010
Lausanne: EPFL Press.Against Rationalism
Grand dessein du rationalisme; Brussels: Accattone, 2021. p. 66.OASE 108. Ups & Downs. Reception Histories in Architecture
Rotterdam: nai010.Truth Content: SANAA's Rolex Learning Center at EPFL
2021. International Conference on Architectural Criticism "On the Duty and Power of Architectural Criticism", Online, October 9-17, 2021.Une Maison sans drame : infrastructure pour la prostitution de rue
2021[Dé]dramatisation d’une corrala du Quartier de Lavapiés, Madrid
2021"The New Tempelhof Experience", transformation d’un aéroport nazi en un lieu de vie expérimental et alternatif pour les Berlinois
2021Engager l’architecture: la Maison-Matrice somme site d’expérimentation d’un processus contributif
2021Le Vent d’Est - Centre pour « Commuters »
2021Saint Louis, les stratégies du « blight »
2021« Cargo »: une figure de pierre au cœur de la zone ferroviaire de Renens
2021Inventory of Problems: The Genesis of the Rotterdam Kunsthal by OMA/Rem Koolhaas, 1987-1992
Lausanne, EPFL, 2021. DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8582.A Large, Finite Permutation of Specific, Discrete Variants: Dan Graham's Children's Pavilion at Chambres d'Amis (1986)
Konsthistorisk Tidskrift. 2021-06-23. DOI : 10.1080/00233609.2021.1942978.Mourir, c'est un art
A+. 2021-06-28.An unnatural exception. Profile: Piet Oudolf
De Groene Amsterdammer. 2021-08-26.Obliged to be Honourable. The Transgressions of OMA/Rem Koolhaas
2021-11-18. Transgression: A New paradigm?, Online, November 17-19, 2021.Slow Learners
Re-Worlding Lecture, Hasselt, Belgium, November 25, 2021.The ideal critic
2021-11-26. Kunstkritiek door de ogen van een schrijvers, Brussels, Belgium, November 26, 2021.Built Upon Love. Francesca Torzo's Z33
Journal of Civic Architecture. 2021-12-01.2022
Struggling with Gravity. Province Headquarters by XDGA
A+. 2022.Transparency and obstacle in architecture, from Le Corbusier to Rem Koolhaas
The Limits of Transparency; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2022.November 24, 2020
Seven Questions; Berlin: Ruby Press, 2022.matières 17: Barres
2022: EPFL Press.Back to Brick: Bovenbouw & Sergison Bates
A+. 2022.Truth Content: SANAA's Rolex Learning Center
On the Duty and Power of Architectural Criticism; Zürich: Park Books, 2022.Loosely Fluttering in Space
Olivier Goethals: Play Sincerely; Amsterdam: ROMA, 2022.One Critic, One Architect: The Birth of the Reader
2022. European Architectural History Network, 7th International Conference, Madrid, 15.07.2022-18.07.2022.Elegir arquitectura
Barcelona: Puente Editores.The Depot Effect
Log. 2022.L'État dans la ville. Campus pour la fonction publique à Québec
2022Janus. Revalorisation d’un quartier lausannois de la fin du XIXe siècle
2022De l’habitant au passant. Stratégie d’habitat pour la coexistence (Kreuzberg, Berlin)
2022Le Clos Fleuri. Étude de transformation d’un bâti rural dans une zone périurbaine
2022rePanser Noailles: réhabilitation d'immeubles anciens à Marseille
2022Séquences pour un centre-ville sensible, social et identitaire à Nyon
2022Université libérée d'architecture de Berne. Università liberata di architettura di BernaBefreite Universität der Architektur in Bern
2022Frames. Stratégies de cohabitation urbaine à Lugano
2022D.A.T.A 225
2022Après l’apocalypse. Un commerce dans l’ère digitale
2022CMPS45: architecture pionnière pour en finir avec le campus de l’EPFL
2022Centre d'art contemporain des Coulisses
2022Voix d’habitantes, le bâti d’une maison des femmes à Genève
2022Minimum Transgressif. Festival temporaire à Choindez
2022Le Town Hall Virtuel, une architecture pour l’internet immersif
2022Jardins de Sarkandaugava. Un sentier à travers l'inachevé en Lettonie
2022Transparency and Obstacle in Architecture. From Le Corbusier to Koolhaas
This Obscure Thing Called Transparency. Politics and Aesthetics of a Contemporary Metaphor; Leuven University Press, 2022. p. 280.Menace double dans l'IGH de Ballard
Matières 17; EPFL Press, 2022-11-03. p. 72.Rem raconte
2022-11-17. L’architecture au moyen de la fiction. Histoire, théorie et projet, Paris, France, November 17-18, 2021.Research
1 Some architectural writers of the 20th century
In 1972, Nikolaus Pevsner published the book 'Some architectural writers of the nineteenth century'. The current state of architectural theory, history and criticism asks for an update to his study: overspecialization in the architectural humanities has made combinations of historical research, critical judgments and theoretical speculation quite difficult. Nevertheless, only some decades ago many important 'architectural writers' were active in the architectural culture of the Western World. The aim of this monographic research is to define their intellectual projects, and to interpret their ideas on architecture before the fragmentation of its cultural and scientific field.2 The fate of architectural singularity
In an essay from 1989, American writer John Updike asked himself if architecture can be criticized. 'Isnt one duty of architecture', he wrote, 'simply to be different to give us a sense of change and renewal in our lives?' Updike as such unwittingly defined architecture as the production of 'singular objects', in for example the postmarxist vein of a philosopher like Jean Baudrillard, who declared, in a conversation with Jean Nouvel: 'A work of architecture is a singularity, and all these singularities can create holes, interstices and voids in the metastatic fullness of culture. Given the worldwide - mostly visual - 'success' of architecture, this critical tradition has without a doubt come into affliction, not in the least because its roots in old and often premoderns traditions has remained unexposed.3 1989: a year in the life and work of OMA
The year 1989 can be regarded as a turning point for contemporary Western architecture: after the fall of the Berlin Wall, its social power and pretensions were gradually replaced by a mere 'cultural' presence; instead of creating or defining urban environments, architects fell back on the construction of 'merveilles'. One architectural firm embodied this shift emblematically: the Office for Metropolitan Architecture of Rem Koolhaas. A micro-historical inquiry into the projects of OMA from 1989 - such as the Très Grand Bibliothèque, the Sea Trade Center, the completion of the IJ-plein social housing project, but also the Villa dall'Ava - can help to circumscribe this historical, theoretical and critical evolution.Teaching & PhD
Teaching
Architecture
PhD Students
Bonomo Michela, Savio Stéphanie,Past EPFL PhD Students
Pataky Tibor Bonaventura , Patrão Neves De Frias Martins André ,Courses
Theory and architectural culture
These courses offer an overview of architectural theory and culture since 1789 in the western world. The aim is to interpret and criticize texts by which architecture is defined as a discipline synthesizing a variety of themes (social, artistic, political, existential and philosophical).
Theory and architectural culture: exercises
This course offers a method to discern and to understand the ideas, the theories and the cultural values embedded within buildings and architectural projects.