Kersten Geers will present the work of his firm in a public lecture to be followed by a conversation with moderator Annabelle Selldorf.

Founding principals Kersten Geers and David Van Severen opened OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen in Brussels in 2002. OFFICE aims “for a literal architecture,” which the firm defines as “direct and precise spatial proposals, [or] formal compositions without ironic provocation.” As exemplified in “After Party,” the firm’s installation for the Belgian pavilion at the 2008 Venice Biennale, this emphasis on effect, tectonics, and experience over program and rhetoric demonstrates OFFICE’s belief in “phenomenological experience”—personal and sensory—as a basic function of form and space.

Recent work includes a computer shop and office in Tielt, Belgium; the Chamber of Commerce in West Flanders, designed in collaboration with Bureau Goddeeris and Bureau Bas Smets; and OASIS, an installation at the 2013 Sharjah Biennial 11 in the U.A.E. In addition to numerous residences, the firm has also completed the Bridge for the Handelsbeurs in Ghent and the competition-winning speculative scheme for a border-crossing center for pedestrians walking between the United States and Mexico.

Moderated by Annabelle Selldorf. Selldorf is the founder and principal of Selldorf Architects and serves as the president of The Architectural League.

This lecture is co-sponsored by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union.

Support

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.