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Discover the disciplines and current themes of Landscape Sketch of the Arts 2025: from design and visual arts to success, life, and well-being in the sector, and much more.
Landscape Sketch of the Arts 2025: Architecture culture
Architectural culture refers to the way architecture is produced, discussed, imagined, and valued in a society — not only as a technical or construction discipline, but also as a cultural practice that reflects on and actively contributes to societal developments. It arises from the interaction between design, reflection, education and policy, and takes shape through architects, organisations in architectural culture, educational institutions, governments, knowledge platforms and a broad public. It forms the bridge between design practice, social evolution and cultural production, and takes place in the tension between autonomy and application, between reflection and realisation.
Architects operate at the intersection of art, science and technology, thus contributing to a broad cultural dialogue. Architectural culture is a space for critical reflection, experimental design and innovation, thus feeding the broader field of artistic production. Organisations such as the Flemish Architecture Institute (VAi), A+, AR-TUR, Architecture Workroom Brussels and Archipel play a central role in this. They link current spatial-planning issues – such as housing, heritage, mobility, climate, and social justice – to a cultural and social agenda. These themes in architectural culture change in line with societal developments, thus infiltrating the building practices of professionals. Architectural culture, with architecture as medium, thus occupies a full-fledged place in the arts field.
Roughly speaking, there are four groups active in architectural culture: professionals who create architecture, architectural organisations, knowledge institutions – both educational and private knowledge developers – and government institutions that shape architectural policy. Within this ecosystem, the interaction between design practice and cultural reflection is fundamental: designers develop knowledge and insights that, when shared and analysed, give impetus to public debate. Architectural culture organisations take on this task and develop formats for reflection and communication such as exhibitions, publications, lectures, podcasts, walks and digital tools, and share these with a wider audience.
They put urgent social themes on the agenda, guide parallel or unsolicited practices (Pieters and Tritsmans 2025) and create platforms on which architects can reflect on their work outside the commercial pressure of commissions. However, the field is characterised by fragmentation and project-based work, which hinders knowledge exchange, and
continuity can be difficult to anchor. If it succeeds, the artistic practice will be impactful, precisely because of the applied nature of the discipline. Architectural culture is therefore not self-evidently visible: the built object is site-specific and difficult to experience outside its context, and indirect representations (such as exhibitions) often have to translate abstract processes and thought processes to a wider audience. The visibility and impact of architectural culture therefore strongly depend on the mediation and narrative developed around it.
As part of the Landscape Sketch, Flanders Arts Institute requested a contribution from the VAi, describing the current architectural culture landscape. Flanders Arts Institute processed this text and is responsible for it.
Download the full Landscape Sketch of the Arts 2025 (in Dutch)
About the VAi
The VAi is committed to a good living environment for everyone. It creates meeting places for those who create, research, share or experience architecture and its memory. The VAi connects the present, past and future of the (un)built environment, and focuses on how architecture can deal with social issues. Discussing architecture and its history, materiality, form and cultural significance connects with current societal transitions such as ecological awareness, new forms of craftsmanship, diversity in voices heard, social inclusion, digitalisation and the management of heritage. In the imaginative power of the design, these disciplinary issues and current societal challenges come together.
The VAi manages a significant collection of architectural archives that is constantly growing. The care for and accessibility of the collection conform to internationally recognised heritage standards. The VAi collection is open to anyone interested in architectural cultural heritage in Flanders and Brussels: the public will find starting points for a renewed relationship between heritage and contemporary design.
The VAi publishes a range of publications on architecture. The biennial Architectuurboek Vlaanderen presents recent trends in architectural production and formulates critical reflections on the state of architecture in Flanders and Europe. Catalogues on leading and young architects and writers present a cross-section of architectural practices, buildings and designs, theoretical contributions, research and polemical interventions. In addition, there are publication series that disseminate knowledge about architectural archives. This is done in the form of catalogues, archive guides and monographs, which stimulate new insights into the history of architecture in Flanders. The VAi encourages the international promotion of Flemish architecture by collaborating on bilateral projects such as exhibitions and conferences.
