Riva Fall 2023 Architecture Program

Jo Taillieu of the Belgian firm Jo Taillieu Architecten gave our Virginia Tech Riva Fall 2023 Architecture Program students a tour of one of his recent projects; Café Paddenbroek outside of Brussels on September 18th. Professor Joseph Bedford and the students visited eight projects by the firm De Vylder Vinc Taillieu, in Brussels, Antwerp, Gent and Kortijk between September 18th and 21st. They are collaborative practice, of which Jo was recently one of the main partners, who specialize in working creatively with existing buildings. Rather than demolish buildings to build new ones, they work closely with engineers and contractors to find on-site creative solutions to local problems; many of which result in playful juxtapositions and complex layerings of different kinds of materials. Jo explained to our students all the local on-site decisions and the reasons for all the many interesting quirks in his Café Paddenbroek project.