A.J. Lode Janssens - A Balloon Home: Peter Swinnen in conversation with Nikolaus Hirsch

A. J. Lode Janssens (b. 1941) is one of Belgium’s most radical architects and educators. However, for the past two decades he has been living in voluntary exile, resisting any form of public life. Throughout his career he had an ambiguous relationship with architecture, fascinated by its experimental possibilities but equally appalled by its often presumptuous nature. The CIVA exhibition on Janssens’ prolific yet understudied architectural attitude centers on his Balloon (Humbeek, 1969–86)—a temporary pneumatic home experiment, an uncompromising ephemeral attempt at de-architecturalization and harmonizing with nature. An experiment with and through life itself. The exhibition showcases a ¼ scale model of the structure as its centerpiece, allowing the public to fully grasp the architect’s experiment. Together with original and hitherto unexhibited archival material, the exhibition highlights Janssens’ trial-and-error spatial research practice.