I arrived in Belgium on an Erasmus scholarship in 1999. Just a few days later, I found myself on a bus heading to the Netherlands for a study trip. Of course, it was the golden age of Dutch architecture, and I was completely captivated.
Probably as captivated as visitors to Brussels are today. Students, architecture associations, journalists, real estate developers, public authorities—they all come here to witness what I like to call the laboratory of Europe, which thrives on diversity, solved complexity, care, and subtilitas—to borrow Sofie De Caigny’s word.
We established our office here in 2007 and witnessed how Brussels has undergone an extraordinary transformation. The Bouwmeester Maître Architecte – bMa was established in 2009. Brussels became the first in the world to adopt the passive standard in 2015, and now it aims to pioneer circularity. Urban regulations are being reformed through Good Living, the new RRU/GSV with ambitious objectives, which, even though not yet formally approved, is already influencing Brussels’ development as a future-proof city.
Over the last five years, I’ve given talks across Europe and beyond, and this is how I learned that cities and even countries around the world are looking to Brussels as a model. After every lecture, I’m asked the same question: What is the secret behind Brussels’ transformation?
My answer is this:
Planning regulations alone can only guarantee a basic level of quality. To achieve true excellence in architecture, you need governance practices like the one provided by the bMa.
The bMa plays a crucial, independent role. It improves the design quality of urban development projects, ensures high-quality public tenders, and supports this process with an interdisciplinary team.
In the past decade, the bMa has organized over 400 public project competitions, often involving complex, mixed-use developments. This has set a new standard, and for us, it’s clear: we only participate in competitions in Brussels where the bMa is involved.
Since 2016, the Research by Design team created by the bMa has been instrumental in defining the right questions, clarifying urban frameworks, and maximizing quality by exploring alternative approaches.
On the private side, project meetings—introduced in 2019 for developments larger than 5,000 square meters—have created a new culture of dialogue between architects, developers, and authorities. These meetings often involve conflicting agendas. But this is precisely why we need a bMa with a broader, long-term cultural vision, and a clear public agenda.
Sometimes, this means taking risks: the risk of selecting an inexperienced team in a competition—which has led to incredible results and opened doors for young practices; or the risk of pushing projects into uncharted territory—an approach that often drives innovation.
This process doesn’t just produce good architecture—it generates knowledge and creates a platform for it, fosters dialogue, and reinforces the idea that architecture is a cultural practice that shapes the world we live in.
Unfortunately, this culture of conversation is lacking in the Netherlands today. In a world where construction is the main pillar of our financial system, architects and quality architecture have been sidelined. Architecture there has become an act of economy, not of culture.
In Brussels, by contrast, the bMa ensures that the culture of high-quality architecture, urban design and landscaping remain central.
This is why governments must prioritize architectural culture and invest in it decisively.
Kristiaan, we, the inhabitants of the laboratory for Europe, thank you. You leave a strong team behind, and I look forward to seeing how they, together with the new bMa, will continue to raise the bar for architecture, which is all about quality of life in a future-proof city.