“No one can deny that, like most human activities, architecture is undergoing a crisis, which is evident in the reality of the building, the intervention process in which the architect acts, and education.” This is how Jean Barthélemy opened the very first editorial of the brand-new magazine A in 1973.

The founding of a magazine by a group of young, passionate architects at a time when architecture, like society as a whole, was in the throes of an identity crisis, testifies to an unexpected hope and confidence in the power of words, critical reflection and imagination. This hope was translated into powerful texts and daring themes, which continued to fuel the debate year after year. We are now 50 years and 300 issues further down the line. The crisis is still raging, albeit under a different name, and it continues to fuel the conviction that architectural criticism and a Belgian platform for discussion are necessary in response to the countless urgent social and spatial issues.