photographer marc goodwin arrives in belgium
Expanding his ongoing documentation of architecture studios across the world, photographer Marc Goodwin / Archmospheres has now turned his lens to Belgium. This latest chapter follows his series in Japan and Porto, once again offering a glimpse into the daily environments where architecture is conceived and tested. The project emerges in collaboration with local architects, with Goodwin capturing the interiors and atmospheres that define how Belgian practices organize themselves. From Antwerp to Brussels and Ghent, the photography series reveals how architects shape their studios much like their buildings.
BINST architects
BINST ARCHITECTS is based in Antwerp’s Luikstraat, occupying a 1,056-square-meter space since 2018. The building has had many lives — from a colonial rubber storage facility to a discotheque — before becoming the studio’s new home. With sixty people, the firm emphasizes natural light, tactile materials, and openness balanced with intimacy.
BINST Architects | all images © Marc Goodwin / Archmospheres
BRUNO SPAAS ARCHITECTUUR
In Antwerp, Bruno Spaas Architectuur occupies a 210-square-meter space that once housed a stamp workshop. Since 2019, the small team of one to three has cultivated a calm and connected environment, filled with objects, samples, and books that encourage experimentation.
Bruno Spaas Architectuur
B-architecten
In Antwerp, Goodwin visits B-architecten, a practice of sixty people in a studio spanning 1,200 square meters. The team occupies two historic spaces: Anyplace, once a diamond cutting factory, and B-cinema, the first building in Antwerp specifically built as a cinema in 1913. Since moving into B-cinema in 2024, the firm has emphasized an office culture that inspires creativity and reflects its design-driven identity.
B-architecten
Brut architecture and urban design
From a penthouse in Brussels, Brut architecture and urban design works across 320 square meters with views over the city. Originally built in 1956 and later renovated by OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, the space offers openness, light, and raw materiality softened by plants. The fourteen-person studio emphasizes shared meals and the balance between collective work and smaller meeting spaces.
Brut architecture and urban design
Contekst
Antwerp’s CONTEKST moved into its 210-square-meter office in 2023, a former notary office from 1906 designed by R. Styfhals. With a team of seven, the practice prioritizes variety and a human-centered approach, shaping functions to support different ways of working.
Contekst
FELT architecture & design
In Ghent, FELT architecture & design has worked since 2014 in a former fabric depot and sewing workshop. The 120-square-meter office is part of a creative coworking space shared with aNNo architecten and MAAT ontwerpers. The team of 11 values the generous scale of the rooms, which allow for large mock-ups and collaborative experimentation.
FELT architecture & design
i.s.m.architecten
i.s.m.architecten has been based in Berchem since 2010, working in a 100-square-meter former diamond cutting workshop dating back to 1895. The seven-person team embraces informality: ‘Creativity needs chaos. A good office welcomes the mess.’
i.s.m.architecten
Studio Okami
Studio Okami, founded by Hans Vanassche and Bram Van Cauter, inhabits a 150-square-meter office in Antwerp. Once executive rental apartments for the city’s petrochemical industry, the 1971 building was designed by Paul De Meyer and Leon Stynen. Alongside the partners and their office dog, Señor Peña, the space is arranged as ‘a home office away from home,’ combining domestic comfort with workplace focus.
Studio Okami
ouest
In Brussels, OUEST has occupied a 240-square-meter office since 2021. The ten-person practice describes the space not as a traditional office, but as an atelier — a collective project where the group can feel its identity through shared atmosphere and activity.
Ouest
OYO Architects
Located in a renovated 1963 lock keeper’s building in Ghent, OYO Architects brings together twenty-eight people in 1,350 square meters. The space, designed by E. Buyse and reworked in 2022, reflects the firm’s belief that an office should evolve with its people — encouraging spontaneous encounters, communication, and creative growth.
OYO Architects
polo.platform Antwerp
At Tavernierkaai, Antwerp, POLO.platform has been housed since 1996 in a 1963 office building originally used by shipping companies. The 1,230-square-meter workspace, designed by Raymond Goovaerts, accommodates sixty-three of the firm’s eighty-three staff. Open culture is central: cross-disciplinary encounters happen through shared lunches, project discussions, and spontaneous exchange.
POLO.platform Antwerp
polo.platform brussels
The Brussels branch of POLO.platform has been located since 2016 in the historic Koninlijk Pakhuis, designed in 1906 by Ernest Van Humbeeck. The 470-square-meter space once functioned as storage and later as a venue for cultural events. Today, it continues the studio’s philosophy of encouraging mixing and communication across disciplines.
POLO.platform, Brussels
theo de meyer
In Ghent, Stand Van Zaken, led by Theo De meyer, works from a 1,000-square-meter former horticulture site. The practice, which flexes between three and five collaborators, has been based here since 2019. They describe their workplace simply: ‘a generous office.’
Stand Van Zaken (Theo De Meyer)
Robbrecht en Daem Architecten
Robbrecht en Daem Architecten established its Ghent studio in 2007 on a former wood storage site rebuilt between 2005 and 2007. The forty-person office spans 1,320 square meters indoors with an additional 2,000 square meters outside, designed by the architects themselves.
Robbrecht en Daem Architecten
project info:
photographer: Marc Goodwin / Archmospheres | @archmospheres
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