Publication
Title
Moving to the edge : how the relocation of the Provincial Higher Architecture Institute in Hasselt, Belgium, reshaped its interior architecture program
Author
Abstract
Internationally, the position of universities and university colleges within society changed during the 1960s and 1970s, with universities moving to campuses on the edge of urban society, in rural or suburban environments. In Belgium, this trend coincided in particular with the search of architecture programs to further professionalize their discipline. The relocation of the Provincial Higher Architecture Institute from within Hasselt’s urban tissue to a university campus in a rural part of suburban Diepenbeek illustrates this overlap. Founded in 1955, the school initially housed programs in architecture, interior architecture and applied arts in a late-modernist, functionalist building, designed by the school head. In 1970, as a consequence of educational reforms, the architecture and interior architecture program split away from the arts. Eventually, in 1987, the PHAI moved to a structuralist campus building designed by the then-chair, which clearly echoes Hertzberger’s design for Centraal Beheer. While the move constituted a step toward the consolidation and scientification of architecture’s disciplinary knowledge base, for the interior architecture program, it meant a forced recalibration: Until the late 1980s the craft-based program, which had strong ties to the applied arts programs and the local vocational schools, primarily focused on repurposing existing buildings and urban heritage in Hasselt. Both their affinity with the city and their emphasis on crafts were at risk. By employing the school buildings as an important source, supported by archival documents and oral histories, this chapter demonstrates how the interior architecture program shifted as a consequence of its relocation to the edge of society, but in the heart of the university.
Language
English
Source (book)
Interior design on edge / Morawski, Erica [edit.]; et al. [edit.]
Publication
Routledge , 2024
ISBN
978-1-032-60146-5
DOI
10.4324/9781003457749
Volume/pages
p. 253-275
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Art 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Record
Identifier
Creation 12.03.2024
Last edited 14.03.2024
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