Since last academic year, the master’s studios at the Faculty of Architecture at KU Leuven have been organised under ‘4 1 engagements’. Curator Tomas Ooms champions the theme of ‘craftsmanship’, in which the studios regard ‘craftsmanship’, ‘metier’ or ‘craftship’ as the driving force behind a coherent and intelligent design process.

The ‘Craftsmanship’ engagement views the architect as a craftsman who builds up experience in practice, learning throughout life and building on feedback. “Being an architect is a skill that you learn through practice,” says curator Tomas Ooms, “and just like a musician, you have to practise to master a specific skill.” Design studios focus on the complex relationship between the thinking and making processes – designing ‘by doing’ – in order to address complicated themes and evoke new ways of working.