064 BELGIUM
A PLACE TO change trains, a country to drive through quickly on the way to somewhere else; a country at the heart of Europe with the scars of former battlefields and memorials scattered across Flanders. Belgium: what was once called ‘a small country with small horizons’ now sits at the heart of Europe. Te story of European integration, from Messina to Maastricht via the Luxembourg village of Schengen, meets in Belgium. Te country is an opaque mesh of decision-making channels with three autonomous regions, and three language communities, with separate parliaments and territorial boundaries of regions and language areas that are not identical. but overlap. Unsurprisingly, in 1993, Umberto Eco said the language of Europe was translation. In Belgium you sense he got it right.
Ah, those silly games: name ten famous Belgians. Tere is far more to the place than the Ghent Altarpiece, Georges Simenon, Magritte, Audrey Hepburn, Tintin, and a handful of great football players. A country
famous for its beer, frites and chocolates, and an international reputation for its eye- watering system of taxation, Belgians may well be the world’s least patriotic people. From the 16th century until the Belgian revolution in 1830, Belgium, at that time called the ‘Southern Netherlands’, was the site of many battles between European powers, and dubbed ‘the cockpit of Europe’. It is a painful title to bear. Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme are all within a few miles of each other outside Brussels, where, today, NATO has its headquarters. In 2010, King Albert II, in a speech at the Royal Palace, defined his people’s characteristics. Tey were, he said, modest, open, creative, pragmatic and good at compromise. Tey also possessed ‘the ability not to take ourselves too seriously’. With its status as the permanent seat of the European Council and Commission, its own complicated system of overlapping governments that few people from outside ever try to come to terms with, Brussels seems to be the city Anglo- Americans love to hate. Not loving Brussels is a cliché.
In my youth, Brussels was a dark, rainy, unfriendly, unseductive, unappealing, charmless place. Te gloom, the rain, and the formality of the place really were overwhelming. Antwerp was just the same. Ward Daenen, an editor at De Morgen, one of the country’s Flemish dailies, explained: ‘Do you know the Flemish expression, “happy with a dead sparrow”? It means being happy with nothing. Tat is how we Belgians are.’ Belgian humility is rooted in the country’s complex history and culture. It is small and usually plays the role of facilitator. If architecture and design in Belgium ever get a mention, it is usually in the ‘another ugly home’ category. Contemporary interpretations of so-called
‘typical domestic architecture’ are patronised by commentators. But, Flanders. Te Vlaams Bouwmeister, the Flemish government architect, does not build anything, and does not determine who builds what where. He or she is responsible for developing the long-term vision for the region, to contribute to the preparation and implementation of the architecture policy, and to select designers for public contracts. Tose projects to which designers can apply are published twice a year in the Open Oproep, the Open Call. It is a very specific type of competition and unique in Europe. It is, in fact, a selection procedure rather than a competition. Tailored for all kinds of projects from urban master plans to individual buildings, it has operated since 2000. Every department and municipality in Flanders can consult the government team about a project and then work on developing the brief and inviting submissions. Te government architect (the appointment is for five years) works as a consultant throughout the process but the decision-making remains with the
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