On Thursday 8th June, we will be playing host to Julien De Smedt of JDS Architects, a Belgian architect with international influence. JDS Architects was set up in 2006. It employs 30 people and has offices in Copenhagen, Brussels and Shanghai.

A glance at the work of JDS Architects gives us an idea of the international nature of the agency: from the ski jump for the world championships in Oslo (rated among the Top 10 travel destinations by Lonely Planet)through to a “campus” of offices in Istanbul and including the Iceberg dwellings in Aarhus, Denmark, or the H-Gate Project in Hangzhou, China. Based in Brussels, JDS is expanding its European portfolio, which comprises, among other things, the police station in Antwerp, the Conference Centre in Charleroi and Maison Stéphane Hessel in Lille.

Regardless of scale, those projects show an approach that is enthusiastic in its ambition, professional in its process and deeply socially conscious in its conclusions. JDS Architects has received numerous honours and awards for its work, including the prestigious Maaskant Prize and a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale.

Flagey, F()rum