Brice Polomé and Damien Goffart studied together at the Saint-Luc Brussels School of Architecture and lived together for several years. Whilst the former joined the practice of Swiss architect Serge Grard and trained there for five years, the latter cut his teeth in various Belgian firms and very quickly set up his own practice. In 2012, the two architects, both originally from Charleroi, joined forces to set up the firm Goffart Polomé.

Driven by a shared desire to ‘get their hands dirty’, they submitted their first two entries to design competitions three days apart. It was a success: both projects, the school in Bossière and the community centre in Eghezée, won first prize. The competitions followed one after another and the vast majority of their projects were declared winners. Thus began a long series of fruitful collaborations, with both the public and private sectors, in urban as well as rural contexts.