How did we get here? : BLAF architecten Houses 2003—2023

Can a house simultaneously be a home, a prototype, and a critical response to reality? How Did We Get Here? reveals how BLAF architecten’s residential projects navigate tensions between suburban sprawl, energy regulations, conventional construction systems, and clients’ housing aspirations. From their engagement with the meaning of materiality, resources and production, energy-efficiency standards and principles, context, and construction systems from a design perspective, BLAF architecten have developed concepts that demonstrate how the practice seeks plausible paths forward, aspiring to reconcile positions on affordability, performance, adaptability, aesthetics, and circularity. BLAF architecten offers no ready-made answers, but a compass for those who believe in architecture as a practice of and for transition.

This first monograph on BLAF architecten traces 20 years of architectural practice in times of climate change. A selection of 24 houses and critical essays by Helga Blocksdorf, Maarten Van Den Driessche and Lieven Nijs. BLAF architecten draws on the experimental power of small-scale projects and the iterative nature of design. Photos by Stijn Bollaert