Until the end of 2022, the Romanian-Belgian architect Oana Bogdan was operating as Bogdan & Van Broeck with co-founder Leo Van Broeck. The Brussels-based practice reconfigured under the name &bogdan, which stands for cooperation and promotes the “follow me I’m right behind you” type of leadership. Bogdan’s problem-solving mentality and cooperative ethos come together to create spatial conditions for collective life. Here she questions the architect’s traditional role, believing that the profession’s skills can be used to navigate the complexity of many areas of life. Embracing this ability to translate to other contexts, Bogdan took on the role of Secretary of State for cultural heritage in the Romanian Government which assumed leadership of the country in 2016. In 2021 she was appointed Chairwoman of the ‘Good Living’ Expert Committee in charge of the reform of Brussels Region’s building code.

Tom graduated from the Sint-Lucas Hogeschool in Brussels and collaborated for two years with Europan 6-winners UR architects prior to joining our office in 2010. His background is comprised of an amalgam of architecture, urbanism, landscape and design research, with a strong focus on social relevance enabling him to navigate between studies, design assignments and execution. Together with other experts, Tom coordinated our research project “Urbanity Task Force”. Next to his dedicated design and management of operations up to 30.000m², such as Den Travoo or the Campus Unesco Koekelberg, Tom’s in-depth knowledge of the architectural world supports our team on the related technical, legal and financial frameworks.

Sarah embodies our international and multidisciplinary mindset. She studied in France and Sweden, graduated as the laureate of the International Master of Architecture of the KU Leuven campus Brussels, and was shortlisted finalist of Europan 14. Collaborations with Taktyk and Atelier Matador allowed her to sharpen a multifaceted background spanning over architecture, landscape, urban design and social endeavours. Prior to joining our team in 2015, Sarah collaborated with us on the Land-use Series, a recurrent concern in her body of work. She designs and coordinates complex projects such as Bijgaardehof, The Cosmopolitan or NovaCity, with a logical yet sensitive mind and a practical approach to problem solving. Her constant strive for quality inspires our team and partners, behind – and beyond – the scenes.

Besides being trained as an architect at the Bauhaus-University in Weimar, Felix holds a degree in architectural history from the Bartlett, London. Next to previous professional experiences including academic teaching, he has been publishing his awarded work on architectural history and theory since 2013. Since he joined our team in 2016, Felix broadens the scope of our designs, by enfolding them in a rigorous body of references reflecting about time, space and aesthetics. As our BIM manager, Felix makes sure that these timeless dimensions are embedded in our projects through the most recent technologies of the building sector and implements his analytical expertise in complex projects such as Calevoet and Rabelais.

Marta graduated with a Master in Architecture and Urban Design at the Silesian University of Technology in Poland. Her academic body of work and previous professional experiences in the Netherlands have allowed her to deepen a technical yet sensitive approach to urban design, where territorial water structures overlap with the consolidation of public spaces. Since she joined our team in 2016, her derived understanding of how spatial parameters affect the construction of societies allowed her to empower local communities through design: for instance with the adaptive reuse of parish churches in Flanders, or the implementation of the collective ambitions of the 58 households and the local healthcare centre of our project Bijgaardehof.

Ken completed his Master of Engineering: Architecture at the KU Leuven, with an intensive fieldwork research on how social movements contribute to inclusive city making in São Paulo, in collaboration with the Centro Universitário Belas Artes. In close contact with local actors, he explored and deepened his understanding of how considerate spatial interventions – in opposition to tabula rasa – can structure and consolidate communities at all scales. Since 2017, his precise reading of urban fabrics and critical understanding of society allow him to translate our office’s vision by engaging in challenging densification projects, such as the design of a hundred housing units and mixed functions within an inner block in the centre of Sint-Truiden.

Andriy completed his Master of Engineering: Architecture at the KU Leuven – under the guidance of Leo Van Broeck – with an in-depth research on urban sprawl patterns and nodal mobility in Flanders. During 3 years at Studio Thys Vermeulen, he coordinated diverse projects: from an extensive feasibility study on the exemplary adaptive reuse of 12 parish churches all across Flanders to the design of 108 social housing units in Geel. In our team since 2019, Andriy’s interest in cutting edge technologies, sense of material, and eye for composition supports our design process through visual representation. He is currently involved in multiple projects, included the development of a large scale mixed-use project within an inner block in the center of Sint-Truiden.

Andreea completed her Master of Architecture in Bucharest including a year long Erasmus exchange in Madrid. Her internship at Henning Larsen in Germany and a first post-graduate position at the award-winning Bucharest-based architecture studio STARH allowed her to develop her meticulous sense of detail. She relocated in Belgium in 2018 and sharpened her critical mindset with DierendonckBlancke architecten and TRANS architectuur stedenbouw. In our team since 2020, Andreea’s interest in collections and memories of any kind insuflates creative and poetic solutions in the development of our projects at all stages.

Hanna obtained her Master in Architecture at the Poznan University of Technology, with an in-depth research on the ecological impact of urban design, architecture and green public spaces in the city. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from the Poznan University of Life Science. In parallel with her studies she gained two years of experience at the PLANINO Architekci in Poznan, which she reinforced with an internship at U/Define in Bruges after graduation. Driven by values such as improving the quality of our (living) environment through a better sharing of space between humans and nature, Hanna’s skills and eagerness to master the BIM technologies anchors our projects in an intense co-creation process since she joined our team in 2021.

Batiste completed his Master in Architecture at the ENSA Grenoble by questioning the meaning of the “act of building” in contemporary social contexts. During his exchange year at the TU München he developed a fascination for the notions of atmosphere and poetry of space. He pursued these interests as a junior designer at Atelier MaDe, INCA in Grenoble and Framework Studio in Paris whilst developing another approach to the notion of aesthetics and intimacy of spaces along with a sharp interest in construction details, their finishes and the understanding of the material. Eager to constantly experiment in the field of art, it is with the same sensitivity, his drive to learn and his communicative energy that he joined our team in 2021.

Aaron graduated as the laureate from the International Master of KULeuven campus Sint-Lucas Brussel. His master dissertation unfolded an architectural strategy for community empowerment and self-managed regeneration of a deteriorating neighbourhood in Havana, Cuba. Internships in Belgium and Ecuador allowed him to position concepts in a regional and international framework embedded in a deep understanding of the local reality and social aspects of the relevant community. Prior to joining the team in 2021, Aaron focussed on projects redefining urban economy, culture in the city and collective living with TRANS. Aaron thrives when given the opportunity to enhance the value of collective space and social relevance of our projects.

Julia’s Master in Architecture at the Federal Polytechnical School of Lausanne strongly focused on the urban social context. Collaborative research allowed her to experiment with spatial architectural mechanisms that have the potential to become social catalysts, such as the project «Four banal», an urban installation that requalifies public space and fosters encounters around food sharing. During her 2 years of collaboration at the Architecture and Scenography Studio YKRA in Geneva, she developed a sensibility towards materiality, composition and storytelling. In our team since 2021, Julia’s dynamism and critical thinking enrich our projects in many creative ways, within the perspective of future users.

Tom graduated as an engineer architect at UCLouvain, with an international exchange at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Tom’s master thesis focussed on the cross-section of two so-called “ends” of the spectrum of our daily body of work : urban (infra)structure as a social catalyst on one side, spatial phenomena and materiality on the other. In addition to previous experiences in architectural offices in Antwerp and Brussels, Tom is also completing a master’s degree in philosophy. Since he joined our team in 2022, these two complementary fields of expertise come together when it comes to ensure the consistency and relevance of our projects, as he reflects on ways to build and builds ways of thinking. 

Quinten graduated as a laureate from KU Leuven, Brussels Faculty of Architecture, in 2021. His thesis examined contemporary forms of religion and the ‘re-valuation’ of postwar churches in Flanders. In addition, he obtained an advanced master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology where he further explored the interwovenness of both disciplines. Hence, his sensitivity for the complex entanglements between human and nonhuman actors in our urban atmospheres. Quinten’s design-thinking focuses on the idea and image of ‘places’, which to him is a common language between the city and its citizens. Since 2022, his engagement in the team is in correspondence with the office’s core values of collective ‘life’.

Maria graduated as a laureate in 2017 from the Polytechnical School of Madrid (ETSAM), including a year on Erasmus in Paris (ENSAPB). After initial professional experiences in Madrid and Paris, she collaborated for five years with Ouest Architecture in Brussels, where she coordinated various renovations of private and cultural projects, including the transformation of a former classified cinema into a Laboratory for Artistic and Civic Activities. She shaped her approach to architecture during her master’s thesis, “The Extraordinary of the common”. Maria sees each project as an opportunity to catalyse the potential of the existing conditions, approach that enriches our projects since she joined the team in 2023.