Andreas Ruby

Of all the 68 books that Ilka and I have had the pleasure to publish with @rubypress_books so far, this one is especially dear to me. The project it features, the Palais des Expositions in Charleroi, could well change the course of history of architecture. It projects an entirely different understanding of architecture. One that is always temporary and never finished. It is absolutely humble and totally impressive at the same time. It is radically contemporary in a way that makes countless other buildings built today look like out of touch with the now. When I visited it for the first time, it felt less a building than the site of an archeological excavation. Walking through its unimaginable spaces will make your hairs stand on end, and give you an acute sharpness of the mind that others may find in Tibetan monasteries or in the high mountains. It is a transcendental experience, one that beautifully evaporates the limits of what architecture has been so far. At least that’s what it did for me, and I wish all of you to be able to visit it too.

It’s also a difficult building to grasp, because even finished it somehow looks like a construction site. You never quite know which parts are original, which are taken away and which are added. This puzzle is wonderful, but for those of you who would like to resolve it, we made this book. We are grateful to the architects for their lovingly thorough selection of the material - especially the production of those incredible drawings - and to @somethingfantastic_net for the beautiful graphic design. Today, Monday, 8th of June, I have the immense pleasure to present the book together with representatives of the two architecture offices who made it: architecten Jan de Vylder Inge Vinck and AgwA. If you can, you are very welcome to join us.

Mon, 8 June 2026, 18.00. at KU Leuven, Faculteit Architectuur, Campus Sint-Lucas Brussels, Paleizenstraat 65-67, 1030 Schaarbeek, Brussels.