Marc Goodwin's Atlas of Architectural Atmospheres Reaches Belgium

Photographer Marc Goodwin has extended his Atlas of Architectural Atmospheres to Belgium, documenting the workspaces of architecture studios in Antwerp, Brussels, and Ghent — including a 60-person office inside Antwerp's first purpose-built cinema, completed in 1913.

The Belgian chapter spans a wide range of practices. It covers large offices such as B-architecten, POLO, and Binst Architects alongside smaller-scale operations like Studio Okami, Stand Van Zaken, and Bruno Spaas Architectuur, a one-to-three-person studio in a former stamp workshop. Many of the featured firms occupy buildings with layered pasts: former workshops, cinemas, storage facilities, and waterfront structures.

Goodwin asked every practice the same question: "What makes for a good office space and office culture for you?" Their answers accompany the photographs and reveal sharply different definitions of what a workplace should be.

What did the architects say?

Studio Okami, a two-person Antwerp studio run by Hans Vanassche and Bram Van Cauter, keeps its answer brief: "For us, our office space is a home office away from home, with all the comforts of leisure but with the focus on work."

Stand Van Zaken, led by Theo De Meyer and Stefanie Everaert, is more concise still: "A generous office."

i.s.m.architecten, a seven-person firm working since 2010 in a diamond cutting workshop built in 1895, embraces disorder. "Creativity needs chaos. A good office welcomes the mess," the practice said.

BRUT Architecture and Urban Design describes a routine built around shared life: "We prepare meals together every day, and our open office space lets us sit and work together, while we can also retreat to smaller meeting spaces for more peace and privacy." The firm also highlights its penthouse views and its plants, which "add life and warmth to the raw and exposed surfaces."

OYO, a 28-person Ghent studio housed since 2023 in a lock keeper's building from 1963, frames the office as a feedback loop: "An office that evolves with its people, where the people shape the space, and the space, in turn, reshapes the office."

Which buildings do the studios occupy?

The adaptive-reuse stories vary widely across the sixteen featured workplaces:

• B-architecten (Antwerp, 60 staff): Cinema Lux, the first building in Antwerp constructed specifically as a cinema, built in 1913.
• Studio Okami (Antwerp, 2 staff): 1971 apartments built for executives of the port's petrochemical and nautical companies, designed by Paul De Meyer en Leon Stynen.
• i.s.m.architecten (Antwerp, 7 staff): a diamond cutting workshop from 1895.
• POLO.platform Antwerp (83 staff): a 1963 office building for shipping companies by Raymond Goovaerts.
• POLO.platform Brussels (20 staff): a 1906 storage and logistics complex by Ernest Van Humbeeck, later used for art fairs, design markets, and music and film festivals.
• Binst Architects (Antwerp, 60 staff): a storage facility for rubber from Congo.
• Bruno Spaas Architectuur (Antwerp, 1–3 staff): a shop and workshop where stamps were made and sold.
• Robbrecht en Daem Architecten (Ghent, 40 staff): a wood storage building from 2005–2007, designed by the firm itself.
• FELT architecture & design (Ghent, 11 staff): a former fabric depot and sewing workshop.
• Contekst (Antwerp, 7 staff): a notary office from 1906 by R. Styfhals.
• OUEST and Stand Van Zaken round out the Antwerp selection.

How do larger offices define culture?

POLO.platform Brussels ties workplace quality to mixing disciplines. "A good office space fosters an open culture where the mixing of people and disciplines is encouraged," the studio said, pointing to "a spontaneous project discussion at the water-cooler" and "simply having lunch together."

Binst Architects emphasizes balance: "A good office space seamlessly blends openness with intimacy, where natural light, tactile materials, and thoughtful design foster both focus and collaboration."

FELT architecture & design shares its building with other studios, including aNNo architecten and MAAT ontwerpers, and argues that modest finishes buy spatial freedom. "Thanks to – or precisely because of – its modest finish, we value quantity over luxury," the firm said. "This spatial abundance allows us to experiment freely with large models, mock-ups, and tests."

Contekst calls for "variety and a human approach to the spaces and allocation of the functions," while Bruno Spaas Architecteur wants a workspace that is "calm yet connected, filled with objects, samples, and books that inspire."

Where does the Atlas go next?

The Atlas of Architectural Atmospheres, run through Goodwin's Archmospheres platform, has documented architecture and design studios since 2016, online and in print. Previous chapters cover Berlin, Istanbul, Barcelona, Dubai, Oslo, Paris, Seoul, and other cities, with a Japanese edition among the recent additions. Belgium now joins that growing archive — and Goodwin's ongoing travel suggests more national chapters will follow.