Founded in Brussels in 2000 by Philippe Viérin (Bruges, Belgium, 1969), An Fonteyne (Ostend, Belgium, 1971) and Jitse van den Berg (Nijmegen, Holland, 1971), the office has been designing public buildings in historical city centres from day one, without imposing a direct line between past and present, but by applying mediation. NoAarchitecten is aware that the city is the fruit of a continual process in which architecture must conciliate different periods. If a building becomes a positive part of the collective memory, it will become part of the people.

One example is the new Faculty of Law for Hasselt University (2015) inside the former city prison built in 1859 as a star-shaped panopticon. The external wall became the strength of the place, being a known landmark. The presence of many lateral corridors made it possible to fit two auditoria and a cafeteria into the areas between the star’s points. The rector’s office is an adjacent newbuild with facades made of layers of green glass, contrasting with the brick low-rise of the old penitentiary.

The renovation of the Gruuthusemuseum in Bruges (2019) concerned a new entrance pavilion and museum scenography for another historical building, a museum of the history of Bruges. Built as a palace in the 15th century, it was transformed into its current state in the 19th century by the city architect Louis Delacenserie. Characterised by a monumental hall with a grand staircase, the building’s labyrinthine structure has many secondary stairs, landings and loggias. The new scenography by noAarchitecten emphasises the idea of the Gothic house, painted in colours taken from the 19th-century makeover and its bright tiled floors. Outside, a new pavilion reconstructs the intimacy of the originally enclosed court. Its structure in pleated steel plates forms a contemporary exoskeleton, echoing the Gothic and neo-Gothic forms of the adjacent monuments.

The 150kV/15kV electric-power substation designed by noAarchitecten in Antwerp in 2009 is industrial architecture. The building contains only machines and cables and is not intended for people to use. All revolves around the exterior, which is a landmark for thousands of people driving past it every day. It leans slightly, like a wartime bunker on the beach. Painted petroleum blue, the in situ concrete is three-dimensionally textured by gaps in the formwork planks.