USI seminar: The process of change: The evolution of the nineteenth century house in Belgium

USI seminar by Susan Galavan

As the first country on the European continent to industrialize, Belgium was an important centre for the flowering of modern architecture. It was also the first country in Europe to move out of the city into suburban villas, aided by solid transport networks.

Susan Galavan will present her ongoing post-doctoral research, which builds on research on the British and Irish context to examine the row house typology in Belgium. It investigates a range of projects built between 1880 and 1920, a period of great changes in architectural design, as new technologies and materials transformed the way we build for all time. Her current focus of enquiry is on the district of Zurenborg in Antwerp, a large real estate development which evolved in the newly emerging suburbs towards the end of the nineteenth century.

Blending fieldwork analysis with archival research, the project will provide valuable insight into a much-ignored architectural legacy in Belgium, while exploring its role as an agent of modernity. This post-doctoral research project is funded by a [Pegasus] Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship from the FWO, supported by KU Leuven and the University of Antwerp. Part of the Urban Studies Institute’s monthly lunch seminar series.

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