Kenneth Andrew Mroczek suggested Juliaan Lampens, edited by Angelique Campens, to women writing architecture. He sent us a link with the following review by jw468 on Goodreads:

September 13, 2014
Originally posted 04/09/2014

I put off ordering a copy of this book and now it’s become expensive; however, the graphic designer has made the entire thing available on Issuu at http://tinyurl.com/kcp83yn. I’m not going to give this a star rating because I’ve not handled a physical copy and that can sometimes make a big difference in the success of an art/design book.

The idea of designing a house as a continuous space with only minimal separation of functions reminds me of a vernacular typology I became familiar with during my thesis research; the single-pen house, or “big house” in the U.S., which originated in Europe. Because of this similarity, for me, Lampens’ work is a return to origins and an examination of what meaningful living actually means.

Also interesting is the place of these buildings within Lampens’ body of work. It’s made clear that although this mode of expression is what Lampens prefers it’s only possible for him to realize these types of projects when he has a sympathetic client. He describes the rest of his work as something done to pay the bills.

There are two things I wish had been explored further: I wanted the interview with Woulter Vandenhaute to be more in-depth and I wish more of the book were presented in color. This month’s A+U is focused solely on Lampen’s work, so hopefully it will fulfill my second wish.