Dezeen Magazine

Office KGDVS appointed curators of Biennale Interieur 2016

Belgian architects Kersten Geers and David Van Severen have been announced as curators for the 25th edition of the Biennale Interieur, taking place in Kortrijk next year.

The duo will create "a strong architectural envelope" in and around the Kortrijk Xpo venue in Belgium for the event in October 2016, working closely with artist Richard Venlet and graphic designer Joris Kritis.

Founded in 2002, Office KGDVS was awarded a silver lion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Belgian Prize of Architecture in 2013.

Kortrijk Xpo by Office KGDVS
Kortrijk Xpo complex

The practice has worked on residential projects, government buildings, pavilions and furniture. Projects to date have included a new administrative capital of South Korea, a bridge in the centre of Ghent and a chamber of commerce in West Flanders.

Kersten Geers, who is a founding member of architecture magazine San Rocco, currently teaches at the EPFL, Lausanne and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Van Severen is a guest tutor at Architecture School of Versailles and the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Kortrijk Xpo by Office KGDVS
Kortrijk Xpo complex

Office KGDVS was also one of the studios involved in the recent transformation of the Kortrijk Xpo trade hall complex – where Interieur has been held since 1968 – adding a new hall and a white steel-covered walkway.

"We had the privilege to build further on what already was an impressive city within the city," the pair said of their work.

Kortrijk Xpo by Office KGDVS
Kortrijk Xpo complex

"As practising architects they will enrich the Biennale with a vision that is rooted in the daily practice of creating places we live and work in, understanding the fundamental role of furniture and interior design," Lowie Vermeersch, president of the Biennale Interieur NPO said in a statement.

"With their intervention, the event Biennale Interieur promises to become a temporary 'space' where participants, visitors, professionals, guest designers, objects and installations will connect and result in something unique: a catalyst that contributes to a meaningful and successful future in a changing social and economic reality," he added.

Office KGDVS plan to convert the exhibition halls into "a real design city", creating a place where the disciplines of furniture, design and architecture can be united.

"Together we will make a tight team sharing a fresh and radical vision on what furniture, interiors and architecture represent today," the pair said in a statement. "The 25th Biennale will be a fresh, sharp, pure urban celebration of the interior."

Kortrijk Xpo by Office KGDVS
Kortrijk Xpo complex

Dezeen spoke to Interieur president Lowie Vermeersch and curator Joseph Grima at the 2014 Biennale, to discuss his "research-driven" approach.

Coverage from 2014's edition included geometric furniture by French design studio Pool, a sculptural light installation by British designer Ross Lovegrove and a dance performance from a troop of robotic vacuum cleaners.