My story with 51N4E started back in 2005, when I arrived in the studio to work on projects such as C-Mine, TID, etc. as a lead architect. After a three-year break – time that I used to set up an artistic practice – I rejoined 51N4E in 2014, this time in a more transversal role to help shape the transformation that 51N4E has gone through in the past years.

51N4E, Partner, Holding Management, °1973

Cast, Project Lead, °1989

Being part of 51N4E for more than ten years now, I am intrigued by the direction the office takes. The growth from 10 to 44 colleagues, each with a very different geographical background, ensures a work environment that inspires me every day. Nowadays I’m working as a programme agent within Cast on Transformative Densifications & Open Public Structures projects. For me it’s important that we engage the hearts and minds of our stakeholders and create visions together of what our future homes should offer us.

51N4E, Cast, Partner, Program Agent, °1985

Fascinated by the underlying dynamics of city making, I have been involved in projects which redefine our position as an architectural practice. As part of Acte, I focus on conceiving transversal briefs and visionary outlooks together with our clients. Industrial heritage, alternative models of financing, stress-tolerant gardens and experimental planning are my ongoing topics of interest. Parallel to 51N4E, I steer Critical Practice, a platform dedicated to finding common ground among radical pedagogies and visionary practices in architecture.

Acte, Program Agent, °1993

What I find fascinating is the ability to see how everything is related; architecture, city making, drawings, social… things are constantly in the making and nourished from complexities and diversities. Being in such diverse environment like within 51N4E allows me to push my limits and experience new things.

Acte, Project Lead, °1997

My experience at 51N4E began with a long internship at Cast in 2022. The day after my graduation, I moved to Brussels. If I have to define the office simply, it’s the word “plurality” that comes to my mind. This word, which also defines Brussels, can be seen in the culturally diversity of the team, in the nature of our projects, but also in the events that orbit the office. Continuing my adventure with Studio Cast, I truly believe in “design in dialogue” in the development of a common project, whether it’s a competition model, the construction of a tower or the aesthetic choice of a wooden façade : Architecture is a social world. That’s why I believe this growing platform is the ideal ecosystem for a young architect to grow up.

Cast, Project Collaborator, °1999

Cast, Project Collaborator, °1997

Is the role of the architect becoming broader and more complex? Through my practice at 51N4E, I explore a range of projects that enable me to use architecture as a tool, almost as a pretext to help improve social interactions, urban reuse and the circular economy, and also to increase the place of ecosystems in our everyday lives. I like to think about the means and tools, not always traditional, to make these contributions successful.

Cast, Program Agent, °1989

Acte, Project Lead, °1994

I’m fascinated by the power of imagination. I particularly enjoy the moment of encounter between a complex project thought and the construction of its imagination, its translation via a graphic representation. The meeting of these two parameters creates surprises, accidents that nourish the subject and bring new interpretations of a territory. In the framework of complex infrastructure projects, it is also a form of commitment to make complexity and new ambitions accessible to all.

Acte, Program Agent, °1991

Cast, Program Agent, °1984

I enjoy projects that deal with messy urban realities that can serve as a resource to construct more equal, more democratic and more pleasant environments for as many people as possible. In 2017 I decided to complement my training as architect with one in urban sociology at LSE. In parallel I co-started the studio Acte, where I oversee different projects and programmes. Both in teaching and practice, I find a lot of energy in working together and learning from people with diverse backgrounds and different skills.

51N4E, Acte, Partner, Program Manager, °1989

Considering myself as a person in need of endless inspiration. Surrounded by the multidisciplinary team of 51N4E we are all able to gain strengths in various subjects. This by listening, observing and doing. In short: Having fun while developing architecture!

Cast, Project Lead, °1995

It is with great pleasure that I joined the administrative team at the beginning of 2024. I am truly happy to be part of this creative environment. Thanks to all the wonderful colleagues working at 51N4E, who inspire me every day, I am able to flourish both professionally and personally.

51N4E, Administrative Support, °1992

I like working somewhere at the crossing of an understanding of urgent realities, a hunger for radical change and a naïve sense of optimism. At this crossing I found 51N4E, where within different scales of projects I get a chance to work on shaping promising futures.

Acte, Program Agent, °1992

For me, being part of 51N4E is a chance to practice architecture and scenography in various urban and social contexts. My interests are wide and guided by many curiosities so I feel lucky to be in a prosperous ecosystem, where we link space to different thematics including collectivity and our complex environment, through various projects. Either by looking at architecture with the eye of a scenographer when collaborating with Acte or the other way around when mediating other kind of events, 51N4E offers me the joy of intertwining my two disciplines in concrete applications, while opening discussions and leaving me room to grow.

51N4E, Acte, Project Lead, Culture and Public Interaction, °1995

I find joy in diving into complex questions, combining my training as a practising architect and background in research. As project lead within Acte, I work on the reuse of urban sites and infrastructure through dialogue with multilayered stakeholder set-ups, while being a Studio agent enables me to zoom out to what it actually means to design in dialogue.

Acte, Partner, Program Agent, °1989

Cast, Project Collaborator, °1996

Being a practising architect for 20 years now, I now combine my presence at 51N4E with a professorship at ETH Zurich. I find it fascinating to follow up projects in practice and in academia: it enables me to focus on the underlying narratives and to lift some topics up to a research level, in terms of both methodology and content.

51N4E, Cast, Partner, Program Manager, °1974

Cast, Student Intern, Lund University, °1999

Born, raised, and educated as an architect in Brussels, joining 51N4E was the ideal continuation of my professional journey. After gaining valuable experience in other prestigious offices in Brussels and Barcelona, I was fortunate to join the Cast team in 2023. Today, thanks to the diverse range of profiles and skills within the office, I am building a strong technical background in large-scale projects while also leading the development of the office’s BIM department.

Cast, Project Collaborator, °1999

Working with 51N4E since 2019 – after four years of experience in France, Belgium and Taiwan, and in parallel to managing publishing platform Walkscapes and collaborations with the collective Onkruid – my role in Cast in the development of Metropolitan Hybrids gives me a nice opportunity to try and find the right balance between old and new, activation and transformation, performance and experience, working on architectural answers as much as leaving room for future adaptations.

Cast, Project Lead, °1990

When walking through Brussels I like to think about all the choices made over time to shape this public environment; about how some things, though small, have such a big impact, like the local shop that opened in front of a bench on the street and is now the perfect summer hanging spot for the neighbourhood; or about how I’m happy some places are left untouched by new developments or any design. Through an engagement in projects, programmes and the co-development of Acte, I put this personal view into practice and enjoy combining it with those of others.

51N4E, Acte, Partner, Program Manager, °1992

It’s great to be able to contribute to the creative atmosphere in our company. Being part of such an innovative team boosts my own creativity.

51N4E, Office Management, °1972

Cast, Student Intern, Bauhaus University, °1998

I joined the office from a non-traditional background, working in construction, fine art, finance, publishing and academic research among other things. This diversity of experience has led me to understand architecture as a collaborative field, responsible for coordinating private, public, technical and typological interests in both theory and practice. As a member of Cast I work mainly on larger projects and am particularly interested in finding an expanded definition of sustainability related to social, environmental, economic and material factors. My goal is to be curious and ask questions.

Cast, Project Lead, °1988

I’ve always been very intrigued by architecture as a way of storytelling. The layered complexity of making a narrative tangible through a thoughtful and delicate construction – drawing, redrawing, seeing, talking, writing and doing– is fascinating. At 51N4E, being surrounded by inspiring people with diverse backgrounds and different personal topographies adds to this richness.

Cast, Project Collaborator, °1997

From my dual background I like to tackle projects from different angles, combining both a conceptual and technical approach, steering them towards multilayered and integrated designs. Being part of the 51N4E team for some years now already has broadened my perspective. I like to develop projects from beginning to end, loving the magical moment when shared concepts become reality.

Cast, Partner, Program Agent, °1984

I’m passionate about complex urban questions and contradictory situations. Brussels is in this regard a perfect laboratory to keep on being inspired: be it conceptualizing spatial mobility challenges in the XXth century belt with Flanders or enjoying the enormous diversity of users in Brussels’ divergent public spaces. In my work at 51N4E I like to be involved in steering how the enormous social and environmental transition that is needed will land in space: How can this create environments that provoke tangibility, curiosity and collective situations? What role can architecture and urban design play to provoke collective experiences? How is this space produced and negotiated by different actors? How can we be critical towards decision-making processes?

Acte, Project Agent, °1992

My engagement in cities as diverse as Brussels and Tirana has strengthened me in the belief that amazing transformations are possible when we can create the freedom to focus on a shared purpose and not just on a set of tasks. My dream is to build on those experiences and to feed them back into the practice. I imagine 51N4E evolving into a self-steering collaboration of designers and experts that team up with others to create collective intelligence both in content and organisation. We will need this approach to deal with the social and environmental challenges ahead of us.

51N4E, Cast, Partner, Program Manager, °1974

As a Landscape Architect, I like to relate contexts that are always much bigger than us to imagine spaces of more distributed agency. How can things that are separated or treated separately be connected? Working within 51N4E gives me the opportunity to respond to specifities of situations while focusing on becoming rather than being. Who am I?

Cast, Project Lead, °1994

As a millennial architect, I am deeply concerned about our living environment and the future. That’s why I not only dive into topics such as sustainability, reuse, and ecology but also affordable housing, politics, and urbanism. I believe that 51N4E is a platform that shares the same values and ideologies, with projects covering all of these topics. That’s precisely why I feel right at home here.

Cast, Project Lead, °1996

Cast, Student Intern, EPFL, Lausanne, °2002

Cast, Student Intern, Politecnico di Milano, °1996

I like to explore the manifestation of complex systems within landscapes and believe in the political importance of qualitative free public space for all beings. Collaborating on a range of projects within the ecosystem of 51N4E nurtures my growth as an individual, and gives me the opportunity to develop greater design sensitivity and technical acumen while holding space for investigation and play.

Acte, Project Collaborator, °1996

I particularly enjoy discovering the qualities of the built environment, from urban oddities to the almost invisible everyday rituals. I consider it not necessarily the intention to build, rather than to deal with the complexity of the existing. Metropolitan Hybrids challenges this by projecting possible futures of fundamental buildings, that are impactful within the city.

Cast, Project Lead, °1996

What fascinates me about architecture is the complexity of the creative process behind a project. The beauty of many different ideas from actors and stakeholders coming together and trying to propose a right answer to a question. Within 51N4E this creative process is enhanced by all the different qualities present in our diverse, interdisciplinary team.

Cast, Project Lead, °1992

I have always been evolving between different spheres and lately between social sciences and architecture and since I have started to work at 51N4E in 2022 I am still trying to make the best of different opportunities and fields. I am currently following two parallel trajectories: architectural practice in Brussels and research practice in Paris at the ENSA Paris La Villette. Working in Cast for different competitions enabled me to develop a strong interest in narratives and representation while maintaining an insatiable curiosity for alternatives ways of building.

Cast, Project Collaborator, °1998

It is inspiring to work in an office that tackles the challenges we are confronted with today and considers the impact of architecture on society and people’s everyday lives. I am passionate about repurposing and revitalising the existing architectural landscape, to discover methods on how to rethink the future in a sustainable way. As a collaborator at 51N4E, I am able to work on different scales; developing solutions for a specific context as well as creating a broader vision.

Cast, Project Lead, °1998

Acte, Student Intern, Politecnico di Milano, °1999

I find myself working with great enthusiasm on urban projects that bring life and show potential, ones that open a door for imagination, freedom and dialogue, contributing to environmental, social and economic sustainability. Process is always more important than result and working in Acte through a cycle of exploration, catalysis, implementation and engagement is very inspiring to me.

Acte, Project Collaborator, °1998

As an architect and a landscape architect, I am intrigued by the complex entanglements between human and nonhuman actors and curious for their spatial implications and expressions as part of the built environment. After exploring these interests academically in Boston, I moved to Brussels and joined 51N4E Acte in 2023 excited to engage in an ‘inter-scalar’ approach to design investigations and interventions, merging territorial considerations and detailed landscape observations and through readings of environmental, social and cultural layers.

Acte, Project Collaborator, °1996

I enjoy diving into an unknown context and scale to learn the variety of different starting points, whether it is the behind-the-scenes of a museum or a city administration with high ambitions. For me, it feels refreshing to prioritize the social component in architecture at 51N4E. Not only by working with so many diverse, interesting people but also by getting different, sometimes even opposite, stakeholders around one table, to discuss, draw, and brainstorm in an open way and to start structuring a process that leads to the design of a common vision of this ‘imaginable’ future where they (and we) can be a part of.

Acte, Project Lead, °1997

My interests lie mainly within Cast groups of projects focusing on Transformative Densification and Metropolitan Hybrids. I am intrigued by the complexities that come with architecture, dealing with them in an interdisciplinary environment with the team of experts and working together towards the best possible project.

Cast, Program Agent, °1987

Acte, Project Lead, °1994

· paradox · population · movement · duality · culture · exchange · metropole · train · europe · forêt · density · political · diversity · space · public · confrontation · opinion · temporary · cohabitation · compromise · surréaliste ·

Cast, Project Collaborator, °1996

Working with(in) Acte with unwarranted optimism, I hope to create spaces and systems based on resilience; welcoming for both humans and non-humans.

Acte, Project Collaborator, °1995

I’ve been working with 51N4E since 2018 between Brussels and Tirana. Within Cast, I deal with Metropolitan Hybrid buildings where I love the challenge of combining categories that apparently often collide with each other: private interests with public ambitions, rapid development with resilient solutions, metropolitan-scale complexity with the neatness of human-size needs, etc. While doing this, I keep asking myself, without having found an answer yet, which of a flexible solution or an extremely rigid one is more future-proof.

Cast, Project Lead, °1991

Working with 51N4E since 2018, I focus on developing transversal skills, working on architecture and its territory. Being interested in the relation between architecture and its context, material and immaterial, I firmly believe in the necessity to approach the complex reality that surrounds us from a holistic perspective by means of architecture.

Cast, Project Lead, °1990

Cast, Program Agent, °1986

I joined 51N4E after gaining experience in various European countries, finding in the firm and in the city of Brussels the right place to cultivate and enrich my professional and personal curiosity. In my role, I contribute to medium and large-scale projects, integrating design tasks with a focus on technical and workflow optimization, through the implementation of BIM within the office.

Cast, Project Lead, °1995

Together with the team of Acte, I aim to tackle the monovalent and inflexible structures of our built environment. These are proving difficult to adapt to today’s social and ecological challenges. Working in a multidisciplinary team, considering fluctuation and elaborating new syncretic tools are perhaps the most evident steps we are making in this direction. This represents a significant shift in the practice of architecture; it repositions us within the debate on the future of our environment.

Acte, Project Lead, °1994

Cast, Project Agent, °1989

As a person, I hold an endless curiosity for life and its widespread differences. As a practising architect/urban planner at 51N4E, this curiosity has yet to be defined. Foremost, I am inspired by storytelling – both in the architectural practice as in the urban environment. I believe in designing across scales, where conceptual frameworks are encountered by the simple means of daily life.

Cast, Project Lead, °1997

My focus within 51N4E is the built environment, having worked on numerous buildings for more than six years now, all differing widely in terms of context, scale and programme. Going from almost zero experience to constructing a high-rise hybrid building in the middle of Brussels in this amount of time challenged me enormously, slowly developing an understanding of what it means to create reality. The surprises that this brought along the way, where architectural proposals and personal encounters are closely intertwined, are the constant driving force behind my work.

Cast, Partner, Program Agent, °1990

51N4E, Culture and Public Interaction, °1984

Being part of the 51N4E platform means being part of a very diverse and complex environment. This environment, defined by the people and the position of the office in the city (and the city of Brussels itself), influences the design and creates a pleasant space to explore in. Not having clear boundaries between the parts enables the work to be scanned and questioned by different eyes and different backgrounds, and this brought quality to the projects I have been working on (mainly large-scale competitions in the public structure domain). Being playful, curious and free is embraced, but there is always an anchor point which keeps the idea realistic and possible.

Cast, Program Agent, °1992

As an architect and more generally, I am always looking forward to exploring different fields. It seems important to me, whatever the subject, to regularly question the methods and conditions of one’s activity. I see this recurring exercise of taking some distance, as a way towards new perspectives on our ever more complex environment. In that sense, I find 51N4E’s research of developing a culture of Design in Dialogue crucial, and I am very enthusiastic to participate in this ongoing process as part of Acte.

Acte, Project Collaborator, °1996

51N4E, IT Management, °1974

I am very grateful to work at 51N4E. It has given me the chance to work in a culturally rich and diverse environment.

51N4E, Hospitality Management, °1994

Personal statements are inevitably rather general, bordering on the sort of genericness that seems to reflect the corporate statements of many architecture offices. However, the current crisis and subsequent stresses it has placed on our mode of working makes even more apparent the individuality of the people that make up 51N4E, less a single entity than a collaborating assembly.

While operating within 51N4E, I have noticed an open atmosphere take shape in which individuals have the opportunity to define their trajectories. As part of Cast, I aspire to apply my own concerns with openness – of form, borders, thought and discourse – to the architecture we conceive.

Cast, Project Lead, °1992

I enjoy seeing how architectural ideas unfold into materiality and translate into moments in the human context. I started my internship at 51N4E in February 2020, just two weeks after graduation. Being new to the profession, Cast gives me a great opportunity to take part in collaborative experiments and develop the built environment in a very holistic way.

Cast, Project Lead, °1994

I was always interested in the cultural aspects of architecture, and this is what pushed me to work in different spheres relating to architecture mediation, whether educational, curatorial or editorial. After four years as programme coordinator at A+ Architecture in Belgium, 51N4E offers me the specific insight into the practice of architecture I never had. The richness of the work environment, the great variety of projects and the collective way of working and exchanging challenges me every day in terms of the explanation and visibility of what we are and what we do as well as in terms of the realization of cultural projects inside this office.

51N4E, Culture and Public Interaction, °1990

Since joining 51N4E in 2015, I’ve had the chance to grow and learn in an environment that is constantly changing and reinventing itself to structure its complexity and messiness. In the last few years, I was able to combine long-term and large-scale projects with fast and hands-on interventions. As a person I tend to be oriented towards practical solutions and to use a fast, personal approach. The pool of knowledge and competences within 51N4E allows me to go beyond pure practicality and has made my ideas and work methods more critical. I am currently supervising multiple projects for Cast and am helping to set up the new Root studio.

Cast, Program Agent, °1992

As an architect and landscape architect, I like to look for the connections between the landscape and the built environment. The two are never to be seen separately, I think. Secondly, I believe it’s very important to look at the context of things. I mean that in the broadest sense possible. Context allows us to fully understand a building and/ or a landscape. It allows us to fully see the potential of a place and see opportunities that we otherwise maybe wouldn’t have noticed. By combining architecture and landscape architecture with a wide range of other interests, I like to strive for something that has a broader impact than what it was designed for.

Cast, Project Lead, °1995

Whether as a student in Montréal, Vancouver or Tokyo, as a researcher in Berlin, or now as collaborator at 51N4E in Brussels, I always found myself driven by the same desire to form and deepen past, present, and future relationships with the world around us and to achieve within each project a deep sincerity.

Cast, Project Lead, °1990

As an architecture photographer, I capture the interplay between design, space, and experience, creating images that highlight the essence and impact of architecture. Working at 51N4E provides a dynamic environment where collaboration with architects continuously sharpens my perspective and skills. By documenting projects and processes, I contribute visual narratives that connect our work to its broader social and spatial contexts, fostering understanding and dialogue. This shared exploration of design inspires me to refine my craft and deepen its impact.

51N4E, Culture and Public Interaction, °1992

As a sociologist and urban designer, I tend to believe in the potential of things. In our ability as a society to creatively respond to the conditions we find ourselves in. Sometimes through bold moves, often from a more humble entangled understanding of our human condition. At 51N4E I found a context that is eager to explore this complexity of transformation on the scale of a landscape, a building or a temporary moment. Helping others to navigate in this complexity is a challenge I commit myself to.

Acte, Program Agent, °1987

I moved to Brussels in 2006 to join 51N4E. Looking back at the projects I’ve been involved in, the broad scope of 51N4E is visible: buildings, objects, public spaces, publications, strategic frameworks, etc. I got to grow along with the office and help structure our hunch that architectural practice is about shaping the outcome as much as it is about the process to get there. I believe in the capacity of spatial design to weave relations, and in the responsibility of the designer to bridge different agendas from the tangible experience to systemic concerns. Next to projects, I’m currently busy setting up a new part of the company, Root, as a structural collaboration between 51N4E and Plant & Houtgoed.

51N4E, Acte, Partner, Program Agent, °1977

Since August 2019, I have been working within Cast at 51N4E. In this environment, projects are an opportunity to fearlessly and enthusiastically search across multiple scales for robust solutions to the complex and diverse questions posed by the context we interact with.

Cast, Project Collaborator, °1994

Acte, Project Collaborator, °2001

As a young architect looking for knowledge and learning, 51N4E is a place to be. Like Brussels itself, the office is filled with a wide range of profiles and skills, constantly bringing new ways of challenging the architectural profession. I like to think that my work at Cast is just the beginning of a journey on this platform, which strives every day to bring something extra to the city and its users. This leaves me free to navigate through the different mediums and paths that 51N4E offers me.

Cast, Project Collaborator, °1997

As an architect and as a person, I do believe in the change of connotation of things (in general), being them objects, spaces, people, relationships, institutions or ideas. Specifically at 51N4E I’m having the opportunity to develop an high interest of the AS FOUND, as the office is highly concerned of WHAT characterizes a place and sees in it the main reference point to create respectful change.

Acte, Project Collaborator, °1997

I am passionate about crafting a sustainable living environment with a central focus on the revitalisation and reconversion of existing structures. I see it as a mission to minimise the environmental impact while nurturing high-quality architecture. In the landscape of today’s real-estate market, I firmly believe that building reconversions should be viewed not as a burden but a source of qualities that can deliver designs that are both environmentally conscious and economically viable.

Cast, Project Lead, °1997

Throughout 18 years of practising architecture I have gained expertise in designing and delivering a variety of architectural projects. As co-founder of ‘Petite Ceinture’, a Brussels urban initiative, I interrogate the city (specifically Brussels) as a laboratory for inclusive development. I am empowered to relate our architectural expertise to the current and future societal challenges. I have been part of 51N4E since 2019, steering the design of many projects. In collaboration with clients and other stakeholders, these projects enable me to contribute to transformations towards a future for all.

Cast, Partner, Program Agent, °1979

By being part of and engaging with the 51N4E platform since 2016, I recognize that I always tend to broaden the scope of my practice rather than achieve expertise. I feel my position as an architect as a generalist in the field of construction who is involved in research with a range of stakeholders to create a holistic approach to the design process. This inclusion also allows for a better integration of the dissemination of knowledge produced by research. Transversally to 51N4E, I started teaching at the ULB Faculty of Architecture La Cambre-Horta where I can practise this empathetic attitude of openness to others and their knowledge, in an environment where experimentation is paramount.

Cast, Project Lead, °1991