The fourth edition of the Bruges Summer School of Architecture and Craft took place at the beginning of August under the most favourable circumstances. Our 17 students roamed the streets of Bruges, discovering the remarkable Bruges Gothic style. Coming from many countries with diverse architectural traditions, they devoted themselves for two weeks to this brick architecture in which every element has a function: from the gables facing the street or the canal, used to hoist goods up to the top-floor attics by means of a mast and each possessing its own character, to the tall windows designed to bring light deep into the buildings, and even to the relieving arches easing the load on the lintels, like eyebrows adorning a face. The architecture of Bruges is an exceptional field of learning.

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Like a living organism, it evolves according to necessity: an appendage appearing to meet a particular need, then disappearing once it has lost its purpose. In the architecture and urban fabric of Bruges, one can read the history of a trading city: opening waterways, erecting halls, markets and a belfry, paving its streets, and welcoming the whole world within its walls. By studying its architecture, our students were led to learn its history.

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The courses – in history, surveying, geometry, construction and project design – were given with the intention of demonstrating the link between appearance and the means of construction: aesthetics and structure. As the profession of architect is not merely an artistic exercise, since it involves the construction of solid and durable buildings – that is, reliable structures – it is essential constantly to bear in mind that architectural forms generally originate in the rules governing matter: statics, equilibrium, loads and thrusts, the nature of available materials, the harshness of the climate, and so on.

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We had the pleasure of spending two weeks with talented and promising individuals.

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Many thanks to you all!

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Anna Denis (Belgium), Matthew Watson (USA), Erika Kumada (Japan), Harrison Gersch (USA), Donatas Gražulis (Lithuania), Paul Zepeda (USA), Lucy Byrne (Ireland), Lovis Constantine Wentworth (United Kingdom), Luca Leon Friede (Germany), Georgiana Vacaru (Romania), Nicholas Larkins (USA), Eduard Vardanyan (Armenia), Aliénor Cros (France), Shahed Abdeen (Palestine), Daniela Pineda García (Spain), Iarina Ungureanu (Romania) and Jordan Mafumbo (Uganda).

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Many thanks also to the teachers and guest lecturers!

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Noé Morin, Nadia Everard, Jakub Ryng, Pablo Funes, Riccardo Buratti, Robert Adam, Richard Thomas and Ivonne María Marcial-Vega.

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With the collaboration of the City of Bruges (Thybris Gerin, Leentje Gunst and Grégory Maes), the parishes of the Church of Our Lady, St Walburga’s Church, St Giles’ Church and St Anne’s Church, Musea Brugge (Charlotte Laridon), the Bruges Major Seminary, Christine Ketels and Melissa Van Doorselaer.

A glimpse of the 2025 edition (Instagram video)

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A glimpse of the 2025 edition (Instagram video)

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