At the previous edition of the Venice Architecture Biennale, the architects Jan De Vylder, Inge Vinck and Jo Taillieu won, together with Gideon Boie and Filip Dujardin, the ‘Silver Lion for a promising young participant’ for their ‘Caritas’ project. On the day of the award, Jan De Vylder celebrated his 50th birthday.

‘Young’ is an elastic concept, and as an architect, the label ‘promising’ sometimes doesn’t seem to have a best-by date. Belgium today boasts a significant number of architects – like the above group, in their forties and fifties – whose oeuvre set the tone within the international architecture discourse. These established architects have built up stable offices that employ talented designers. They carry out large-scale projects and teach at prestigious universities. They no longer need the label ‘young’ to draw attention to their work.