Belgique - Louvain-la-Neuve - Aula Magna - 04

Sir Philippe Samyn (born 1 September 1948, in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest i ...

) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and civil engineer whose style is characterized by extensive use of

glass Glass is a non-Crystallinity, crystalline, often transparency and translucency, transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of ligni ...

and steel to build often monumental structures. He is also known for his discovery of " The volume and displacement indicators for an architectural structure" in August 1997.

Biography

Philippe Samyn started his education in

, before moving to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

with his family. He was interested in art,

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

sciences Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence f ...

and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...

from an early age. He holds a degree in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

from Brussels Free University (ULB) in 1971, a Master of Sciences in Civil Engineering from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

(MIT), in 1973, a degree in

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water ...

from the ULB (1973), a postgraduate in management from the Solvay Business School (1985). He became Doctor of Applied sciences at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301� ...

in 1999. He begins his consultant activity as an architect and engineer in 1972 and founds Philippe Samyn and Partners in 1980. He advocates the concept of "efficiency": a rational use of materials' properties. His approach is therefore opposed to those producing structures that are expensive, fragile or use excess material. His technical research was thus awarded a

Global Award for Sustainable Architecture The Global Award for Sustainable Architecture was founded in 2006 by architect and scholar Jana Revedin. The Global Award Community, which in 2022 consists of the 75 contemporary architects or architect collectives from around the globe who have ...

in 2008. His archives are regularly transferred and available for consultation: * Hand-written, graphic and iconographic documents and models are at the National Royal Archives of Belgium. * Pictures and original films are at the

Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Belgium The Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique, sometimes referred to as ') is the independent learned society of science and arts of the French Comm ...

. Philippe Samyn is Commander of the Order of Léopold and a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium. He is personally ennobled with the grant of hereditary nobility to Knighthood by HM King

Albert II of Belgium , house = Belgium , father = Leopold III of Belgium , mother = Astrid of Sweden , birth_date = , birth_place = Stuyvenberg Castle, Laeken, Brussels, Belgium , death_date = , death_place = , signature = Albert II of Belgium Sign ...

on 13 July 2012. His motto is "Reperire, Invenire, Creare".

Philippe Samyn and Partners

Description

Philippe Samyn and Partners is a

partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...

of architects and

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

founded in 1980 which currently employs about fifty associates. The team carries out integrated projects, from

landscape design Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and gard ...

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks) ...

, including engineering. It is based in the neighborhood of the Prince of Orange,

south South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

. The partnership is certified ISO 9001 – 2015, ISO 14001 – 2015 and VALIDEO. Partners are Philippe Samyn (statutory manager), Denis Mélott and Johan Van Rompaey ( engineer architects), Antonio Quinones (secretary-general) and Ghislain André, Jacques Ceyssens, Quentin Steyaert, André Charon, Åsa Decorte (architects).

Major projects

Couverture des quais de la gare de Leuven

]1993 – Psychiatric Clinic "Sans Souci",

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

*2001 – UCLouvain Aula Magna,

Louvain-la-Neuve Louvain-la-Neuve (, French for ''New Leuven''; wa, Li Noû Lovén) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town w ...

, Belgium *2008 – " Vesuvio-Est" railway station,

Striano Striano ( la, Histrianus) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, southern Italy. Striano borders the following municipalities: Palma Campania, Poggiomarino, San Giuseppe Vesuviano, San Valentino Torio (SA) ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

*2009 – Studio for the painter Erik Salvesen, Ekenäs,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

*2009 – Faculty of Applied Science, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium *2010 – Lujiazhi cultural creativity garden, reception hall, large auditorium and hotel,

Zhoushan Zhoushan , formerly romanized as Chusan, is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of ...

, China *2014 – Social housing at rue de l'Olivier,

Schaerbeek ( French and archaic Dutch, ) or (contemporary Dutch, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Etterbeek, Evere and ...

, Belgium *2015 –

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

Redu Redu ( wa, Ridû) is a village of Wallonia and district of the municipality of Libin, Belgium, Libin, located in the Luxembourg (Belgium), province of Luxembourg, Belgium. The village is Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with Hay-on-Wye in ...

, Belgium *2015 –

Namur Province Namur (; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and the French depar ...

House of Culture,

Namur Namur (; ; nl, Namen ; wa, Nameur) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Na ...

, Belgium *2017 –

Province Administration House, Namur, Belgium *2017 – "M'as-tu vu" square,

Knokke-Heist Knokke-Heist (; french: Knocke-Heist) is a municipality in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Heist-aan-Zee, Knokke, Duinbergen, Ramskapelle and Westkapelle. On January 1, 2006 Knokke-Heist had a t ...

, Belgium *2017 – Arctic Circle theater,

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per� ...

, Finland *2017 – Europa Building (

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

and European Council), Brussels, Belgium *2018 – Steel tent for a multipurpose public space in

Avilés Avilés (; ) is a town in Asturias, Spain. Avilés is, along with Oviedo and Gijón, one of the main cities in the Principality of Asturias. The town occupies the flattest land in the municipality, partially in a land that belonged to the sea ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

*2018 – Cash Centre,

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; nl, Nationale Bank van België, french: Banque nationale de Belgique, german: Belgische Nationalbank) has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% pr ...

, Brussels, Belgium

References

External links