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 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:
Thomas Clavié
Chiara Filippini
Maëva Fosse
Caterina Gini
Mélina Khater
Julie Leysen
Cristiana Martinelli
Zita Van Den Bosch
Berten Van Parys
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
2022
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
2021
Award: Landscape and Humanism Award for the project Arles, Luma Parc des Ateliers
Project Completed: Opening of the LUMA Parc des Ateliers in Arles on June 26th
Project Completed: Inauguration of the Monument for the COVID crisis in Kortrijk on June 20th
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 Horta Horizon
2018
Award: AHEAD European Award for Best Landscaping and Outdoor Spaces for the Mandrake Hotel in London
Award: Eero Saarinen Honorary Lecture
Project Completed: BBS275 Chateau Hanare
Award: Brussels Horta Prize for Public Space for the project Brussels Memorial 22/3
Project Completed: BBS214 Parvis de Saint Gilles
Medal: French Academy of Architecture Award for Urbanism and Landscaping
Exhibition: Biospheres at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris
2017
Exhibition: General Commissioner of the Biennial of architecture, urban planning and design of Bordeaux
Project Completed: BBS142 Brugge-Knokke A11 Motorway
Project Completed: BBS234 London Mandrake Hotel
Project Completed: BBS120 Waregem Zuidboulevard
2016
Exhibition: Solo exhibition at Bozar in Brussels
Project Completed: BBS185 Brussels Thurn & Taxis park
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