BAS SMETS
Bas Smets has a background in landscape architecture, civil engineering and architecture. He founded his firm in Brussels in 2007 and has since completed more than 50 projects internationally with his team of 25 architects and landscape architects. These projects vary in scale from territorial visions to infrastructural landscapes, from large parks to private gardens, from city centres to film sets.
His realised projects include the Parc des Ateliers in Arles, the park of Thurn & Taxis in Brussels, the public space around the Trinity Tower in Paris La Défense, the Sunken Garden and Mandrake Hotel in London, and the Himara Waterfront in Albania. In 2022 he won the international competition for public space around the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, France.
Several his large projects are under construction, such as the urban forest of the Part Dieu station in Lyon, the Nieuw Zuid project in Antwerp and a large art park in Amagansett, New York.
Each of these projects is part of an interrelated research into the possible role and ambition of landscape projects. The aim is to invent ‘Augmented Landscapes’ by using the logics of nature. These augmented landscapes produce a new microclimate while creating new atmospheres. The collaboration with artists and scientists takes a central role in this research.
Bas Smets received his master’s degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering from the University of Leuven and his master’s in Landscape from the University of Geneva. He has taught in various institutions, such as the Ecole d’Architecture la Cambre in Brussels, the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris and the Technische Universität in Graz.
A first monographic exhibition was presented in 2013 by deSingel International Arts Centre and Arc-en-Reve centre for architecture in Bordeaux. In 2017 he was appointed General Commissioner for the Biennial of Architecture of Bordeaux. Bas Smets has received numerous honours and awards, among which the Award for Urbanism and Public Space from the French Royal Academy of Architecture and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
In 2023 Bas Smets was appointed Professor in Practice at the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University. With his design studio he explores new ways to transform the city into an urban ecology, capable of producing cooling microclimates to counter climate change.
CURRENT COLLABORATORS
Senior Project Architects:
Eva De Meersman
Jacopo Fochi
Lorraine Iweins
Philippa Lankers
Maud Sitar
Ken Spangberg
Sarah Van de Velde
Junior Project Architects:
Justin Campolucci
Martina Ciceri
Thomas Clavié
Inès Journoud
Ines Langlois
Romina Totaro
Zita Van Den Bosch
Project Assistants:
Ines Cavalera
Luka Cockx
Amandine Elsen
Maëva Fosse
Cristiana Martinelli
Mike Munier
Thomas Poullaouec-Gonidec
Irina Prooth
Jorinde Rijmen
Berten Vanparys
Consultants:
Art Direction : Eliane Le Roux
Financial Expertise : Julien Smets
FORMER COLLABORATORS
Emmanuelle Agustoni
Charlotte Biesbrouck
Martina Bjorn Petersson
Annabelle Blin
Ema Bozin
Mattijs Brands
Davide Broggio
Davide Brunetti
Ariane Bruylants
Karel Burssens
Sara Callebaut
Celine Campion
Elise Candry
Luc Chignier
Florent Clier
Margrit Coppè
Barbara Costa
Camille de Chaunac
Justine Chesnel
Bert De Jonghe
Agne Dailidaite
Valentine Dailly
Eva de Hovre
Federica De Leidi
Soutkin de Pourcq
Basil Descheemaeker
Lucie Euvrard
Charlotte Fagart
Gabriellle Fauris
Thibault Feyaerts
Chiara Filippini
Cléo Frachebourg
Bjorn Gielen
Caterina Gini
Arthur Hardy
Cyril Hervouet
Alessandro Iannello
Pinar Koç
Jerome Kockerols
Griet Kuppens
Mélina Khater
Pascaline Lannoo
Lucas Lerchs
Valentine Letellier
Julie Leysen
Amélie Lhomet
Simon Jean Loyer
Mathieu Lucas
Eva Maloisel
Ana Martinez
Keisuke Matsumiya
Paul Mertens
Florian Michel
Simona Nikova
Kléa Ott
Soo Jung Park
Lautaro Pereyra
Gilles Pieters
Catinca Popovici
Bertille Pruvost
Cyndelle Renneson
André Ricardo
Luciano Ricci
Gaël Richard
Luna Rinaldi
Clément Ringot
Dries Rodet
Bianca Schifani
Juliette Simeone
Mick Henri Smits
Jean Souviron
Philip Stessens
Filipa Teixeira
Pauline Théobald
Valentin Thevenot
Charlotte Truwant
Marie-Sophie Ulian
Victor Vrints
Liesl Vanautgaerden
Kobe Vanhaeren
Ine van Coillie
Nick van Dooren
Dries van Nieuwenhuyze
Pauline Varloteaux
Thomas Willemse
Laura Ysenbaardt
Najiw Zemmouri
Joel Zimmerli
CREDITS WEBSITE
Text: Bureau Bas Smets
Graphic Identity: Eliane Le Roux
WebDevelopment: www.from-scratch.fr
2023
Award: Knighthood in the Order of the Star of Italy
Award: Brussels Architecture Prize, Extra Muros
Project Completed: BBS153 Brussels Saint-Lazarus
Project Completed: BBS185 Brussels Tour&Taxis Ponds
Project Completed: BBS239 Bordeaux Brazzaligne
Project Completed: BBS260 Charleroi Ville Haute
Project Completed: BBS423 Aalst Memorial 1982-1985
Project Completed: BBS465 Chaumont-sur-Loire La Forët du Futur
2022
Project Completed: BBS221 Oostende Crematorium
Project Completed: BBS339 Utoyakaia National Memorial 22/7
Project Completed: BBS445 Gent (M)Onument
Project Completed: BBS447 Lommel (M)Onument
Project Completed: BBS448 Aarschot (M)Onument
Competition First Prize: BBS442 Paris Les Abords de Notre-Dame
Competition First Prize: BBS428 Antwerp Loodswezen
Competition First Prize: BBS459 Rome Grande MAXXI
Competition First Prize: BBS434 Ottawa Parliament Block 2
Competition First Prize: BBS460 San Vito Lo Capo Tonnara
Competition First Prize: BBS452 Genk Grote Markt
Competition First Prize: BBS414 Brussels A201
2021
Award: Landscape and Humanism Award from the National Horticulture Society of France
Project Completed: BBS088 Arles LUMA Parc des Ateliers
Project Completed: BBS Kortrijk (M)Onument
Competition First Prize: BBS401 Brussels Pentagon
Competition First Prize: BBS400 Antwerp Scheldeboorden
2020
Project Completed: BBS158 Harelbeke Dock
Project Completed: BBS171 Paris Trinity
Project Completed: BBS329 Paris Lafayette
2019
Award: Aga Khan Award for the Revitalisation of Muharraq in Bahrain, which includes the Pearling Pathway project
Award: Big See Architecture Award for Landscape and Urban Space for the project Himara Waterfront
Award: AHEAD Global Award for Best Landscaping and Outdoor Spaces for the Mandrake Hotel in London
Project Completed: BBS311 Brussels Horta Horizon
2018
Award: AHEAD European Award for Best Landscaping and Outdoor Spaces for the Mandrake Hotel in London
Award: Eero Saarinen Honorary Lecture
Award: Brussels Horta Prize for Public Space for the project Brussels Memorial 22/3
Medal: French Academy of Architecture Award for Urbanism and Landscaping
Project Completed: BBS275 Chateau Hanare
Project Completed: BBS214 Parvis de Saint Gilles
Exhibition: Biospheres at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris
2017
Project Completed: BBS142 Brugge-Knokke A11 Motorway
Project Completed: BBS234 London Mandrake Hotel
Project Completed: BBS120 Waregem Zuidboulevard
Exhibition: General Commissioner of the Biennial of architecture, urban planning and design of Bordeaux
2016
Project Completed: BBS185 Brussels Thurn & Taxis park
Exhibition: Solo exhibition at Bozar in Brussels
2014
Exhibition: Solo exhibition at arc en rêve in Bordeaux
Exhibition: Solo exhibition at Palais des Beaux-Arts in Charleroi
2013
Exhibition: Solo exhibition at deSingel in Antwerp
2011
Project Completed: Conception of the film sets for Philippe Parreno’s film Continuously Habitable Zones
2010
Project Completed: BBS103 London Sunken Garden
2008
Award: Biennial French price for the best young landscape architect
2007
Foundation of the Bureau Bas Smets in Brussels