Book presentation Ad Hoc Barok

On December 12, Rotor, Ghent University and the Flemish Architecture Institute presented the lavishly illustrated book Ad Hoc Baroque. Marcel Raymaekers' reuse architecture in postwar Belgium. This was followed by a panel discussion on the making process and the relevance of Marcel Raymaekers' work for today's architectural practice.

Speakers included Prof. Lionel Devlieger (Ugent, co-founder Rotor vzw), Arne Vande Capelle (Ugent scientific collaborator) and Stijn Colon (Rotor), as well as Anja Hellebaut and Anthony De Meyere (photographers).

Marcel Raymaekers was personally present at the opening, as were many of the clients of his building projects. Following this, the exhibition at the VAi, Unfolding the Archives #6 Marcel Raymaekers, pioneer in circular architecture could also be visited.

Ad Hoc Baroque is the crystallization of a two-year research project by a team from Rotor and the University of Ghent into Marcel Raymaekers' post-war reuse architecture. Through his company Queen of the South, founded in 1972, Raymaekers bought and restored thousands of tons of antique building parts. He reused them to his own design in more than 120 buildings. His exceptional practice has long been viewed suspiciously by the architectural world. The book aims to change that and finally give his work the attention it deserves.

The book is available here: Ad Hoc Barok at Copyright Bookshop.

Information about the exhibition can be found on the website of the Flemish Architecture Institute.

More information about the research can be found here: Post-war reuse in Belgium: the oeuvre of Marcel Raymaekers.