Willy Van Der Meeren – mass

The defender of a firm socialist credo, Willy Van Der Meeren (1923–2002) advocated an architecture for the masses, built logically, with as little material as possible and fitted with the necessary elegance ‘to make it through the day’.
Van Der Meeren did not preconceive architecture, nor did he post-produce it. He thought, acted and built in the now, on a 1:1 scale. His architectures, almost without exception, are clear prototypes awaiting mass production. For more than four decades, Van Der Meeren promoted the intrinsic merger of architecture and the building industry. However, his ideal for line-manufactured and affordable building design never fully materialized. Perhaps his democratic furniture collection, produced for Tubax as an emerging architect between 1950 and 1954, best approximates Van Der Meeren’s social dream—even though today his furniture pieces, like his architectures, are highly sought-after objects, the very opposite of Van Der Meeren’s quest for a society open to all.
mass wishes to celebrate Willy Van Der Meeren’s uncompromising architectural stance—a true rarity—while critically probing architecture’s (im)possibility of impacting society on a larger scale.

Editor: Peter Swinnen & Anne Judong

Date: 2025

Contributions by: Georges Baines, Thierry Belenger, Renaat Braem, Hendrika Buelinckx, Peter Callebout, Francis Carpentier, Jean Cosyn, Luc Deleu, Rika Devos, Filip Dujardin, K.N. Elno, A.J. Lode Janssens, Anne Judong, Jan Ketelaer, Aglaia Konrad, Herman Lampaert, Jacques Meuris, Charlotte Nys, Léon Palm, Marcel Rijdams, Paul Robbrecht, Guido Stegen, Francis Strauven, Peter Swinnen, Willy Van Der Meeren, Herman Van Hunsel, August Van Put, bOb Van Reeth

Design: Kim Beirnaert

Publisher: Spector Books & CRIT. architects

ISBN: 978 3 95905 928 2

Edition: 800 copies