Léon Stynen (15 July 1899 – 13 May 1990) was a Belgian architect, urban planner and designer, from

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. Some of his buildings have been categorized as "refined"

Brutalist architecture Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

and

modern architecture Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, or the modern movement, is an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architectur ...

. He has been called one of Belgium's greatest architects of the 20th century.

Early life

His father was sculptor and designer Jean-Baptiste Stynen. In 1921 Leon Stynen graduated from the National Higher Institute in Antwerp. Also in 1921, Stynen won a competition to design a war monument in

Knokke Knokke () is a town in the municipality of Knokke-Heist, which is located in the province of West Flanders in Flanders, Belgium. The town itself has 15,708 inhabitants (2007), while the municipality of Knokke-Heist has 33,818 inhabitants (2009). ...

. The contest-winning memorial Stynen designed (Herdenkingsmonument 1914–1918) was to commemorate the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

veterans from Knokke. A total of 16 designs were submitted and Stynen's was accepted. He collaborated with a sculptor named Guillaume Dumont to make the monument. There is a plaque affixed to the monument on which Dumont's name is misspelled "Dupont". The monument features four standing figures representing soldiers: they lean against a center column. The sculpture was inaugurated 11 June 1922.

Career

Stynen was active designing buildings from the 1920s to the 1970s. He was also an educator who influenced the architects from Belgium. In 1963 he was made the first president of Belgium's Order of Architects. He was called one of Belgium's greatest architects, and there are many buildings in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

which were designed by Stynen, and they still exist to display the Modern architecture style. In the 1920s Stynen designed four casinos in Belgium. The first was the

Knokke Casino Knokke Casino (also called Knokke-Heist Casino; ; ) is a sea-front casino in the town of Knokke, in the administrative community Knokke-Heist, in the province of West Flanders in Flanders, Belgium. Description The largest of Belgium's ten casinos, ...

. He designed the casino in the style of

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

. In designing the casino Stynen also was influenced by his background n

Beaux-Arts architecture Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and ...

and the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

movement. He experimented with different styles of architecture and eventually settled on Modernism. By the 1930s he was a respected architect in Belgium. In 1939 he was asked to work with

Henry van de Velde Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium ...

and

Victor Bourgeois Victor Bourgeois (29 August 1897 – 24 July 1962) was a Belgian architect and urban planner, considered the greatest Belgian modernist architect. Bourgeois was born in Charleroi and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels from ...

to design the Belgian pavilion for the

1939 New York World's Fair The 1939 New York World's Fair (also known as the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair) was an world's fair, international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, New York, United States. The fair included exhibitio ...

. The building was an

Avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

example of Modernist architecture. The structure was supposed to be disassembled and returned to Belgium after the fair, but as a result of the 1940 German invasion of Belgium the building remained in the United States. Twenty-seven different institutions wanted the building but it was granted to

Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Richmond, Virginia. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Rich ...

. In 1963, he experimented with a technique that allowed a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

ed facade on the

BP-building Antwerp The BP Building, previously also known as the Axa-Royale Belge Tower, is a suspended-structure office building in Antwerp, Belgium, designed by the Belgian architect Léon Stynen. The building was completed in 1963 and features a unique cantilev ...

. All of the floors and the facade of the building are held up with steel cables and supported from the rooftop beams. The building still stands today. In 1968 Stynen and Paul De Meyer's designed Church of Sint-Rita in

Harelbeke Harelbeke (; ) is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Harelbeke proper and the towns of Bavikhove and Hulste. On January 1, 2019, Harelbeke had a total population of 28 ...

. It was called an example of

. The building looks like a pyramid from the outside and inside there is an entirely open space with a

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

Gallery

File:Léon Stynen De Zonnewijzer Antwerpen (7325) 29-07-2019 10-32-27.jpg, The sundial at the Mechelsesteenweg in Antwerp File:Léon Stynen Parkwijk Casablanca Kessel-Lo 16-11-2018 12-05-20.jpg, King Albert building of the Park District Casablanca in Kessel-Lo File:Léon Stynen Parkwijk Casablanca Kessel-Lo 16-11-2018 12-07-11.jpg, King Albert building of the Park District Casablanca in Kessel-Lo Sint-Ritakerk te Harelbeke - vormen.jpg, Sint Ritakerk in Harelbeke File:Léon Stynen Basisschool Heffel Kessel-Lo 16-11-2018 11-17-06.jpg, Heffel primary school in Kessel-Lo File:Léon Stynen Basisschool Heffel Kessel-Lo 16-11-2018 11-27-27.jpg, Heffel primary school in Kessel-Lo File:Léon Stynen Kantoorgebouw E.B.E.S. Mechelsesteenweg 271-273 Antwerpen (7329) 29-07-2019 10-23-06.jpg, Former EBES building in Antwerp File:DeSingel, Antwerpen 01.jpg,

DeSingel deSingel is a Belgian arts center. It is located on the Desguinlei in Antwerp. Its various stages, concert halls and exhibition spaces offer a manifold program of music, dance, theater and architecture. It is also home to the Royal Conservator ...

in Antwerp File:Léon Stynen BP-building Antwerpen (6958) 29-07-2019 12-29-09.jpg, Léon Stynen

File:Financietoren.jpg, Finance Tower in Brussels

Books about Leon Stynen

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stynen, Leon 1899 births 1990 deaths Architects from Antwerp 20th-century Belgian architects Modernist architects Brutalist architects