Founded in 1975 by Paul Robbrecht and Hilde Daem and joined by partner Johannes Robbrecht in 2012, the Belgian firm Robbrecht en Daem is renowned for their sensitivity to place and context, creating an architecture that is meticulous, purposeful, and enduring. This philosophy is evident in their versatile range, with projects completed in the arts, civic, business, and healthcare sectors. 

 For the Current Work lecture, Paul and Johannes Robbrecht will discuss projects including:

• Chamber Music Hall, Gaasbeek, Belgium, a former dairy building transformed into an ziggurat-shaped concert hall and musicians’ guest house in a rural village outside of Brussels. 
• Het Huis, Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium, a painted steel pavilion at an outdoor sculpture park that filters in light from four different directions. 
• Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium, a terracotta-clad concert hall constructed on an open urban space with a tower where visitors can look down on the performance below or look out over the city. 

Paul Robbrecht received a degree in architecture at HSLI, Ghent in 1975 and has been an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of British Architecture since 2010. 

Johannes Robbrecht received a degree in civil engineering-architecture at the University of Ghent in 2002, where he has been a lecturer in architectural design since 2009. 

The lecture will be followed by a conversation with Nader Tehrani, dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union and founding principal of NADAAA.

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.

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