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 in more than 12 countries with his team of 20 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 park of Thurn & Taxis and the Saint-Gilles Plaza in Brussels; the public space around the Trinity Tower in Paris La Défense, the Sunken Garden and Mandrake Hotel in London, the Himara Waterfront in Albania, and the Parc des Ateliers in Arles, France. In 2022 he won the international competition for Les Abords de Notre-Dame in Paris, France.

Several his large projects are under construction, such as the urban forest surrounding the Part Dieu station in Lyon, the Nieuw Zuid project in Antwerp and a sculpture 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 schools such as the Ecole d’Architecture la Cambre in Brussels, the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris and the Technische Universität in Graz.

In 2008 he was awarded the biennial French prize for young landscape architects ‘Les Nouveaux Albums des Jeunes Architectes et des Paysagistes’. 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 and in 2018 he received the Award for Urbanism and Public Space from the French Academy of Architecture.

CURRENT COLLABORATORS

Senior Project Architects:

Eva De Meersman
Jacopo Fochi
Philippa Lankers
Gaël Richard
Clément Ringot
Maud Sitar
Ken Spangberg
Sarah Van de Velde

Junior Project Architects:

Davide Broggio
Martina Ciceri
Justin Linton Campolucci
Lorraine Iweins
Florian Michel
Romina Totaro

Project Assistants:

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 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
Cléo Frachebourg
Bjorn Gielen
Arthur Hardy
Cyril Hervouet
Alessandro Iannello
Jerome Kockerols
Griet Kuppens
Pascaline Lannoo
Lucas Lerchs
Valentine Letellier
Amélie Lhomet
Simon Jean Loyer
Mathieu Lucas
Eva Maloisel
Ana Martinez
Keisuke Matsumiya
Paul Mertens
Simona Nikova
Kléa Ott
Soo Jung Park
Lautaro Pereyra
Gilles Pieters
Catinca Popovici
Bertille Pruvost

Cyndelle Renneson
André Ricardo
Luciano Ricci
Luna Rinaldi
Dries Rodet
Bianca Schifani
Juliette Simeone
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