Almost thirty years after Marie-José Van Hee Architects (MJVHA) first exhibited at De Singel, the Flemish Architecture Institute invited the firm to create another exhibition. The VAi asked MJVHA a few questions that would serve as a guideline for the exhibition A Walk: ‘How do we care for architecture? How do we view the personal efforts required to design buildings? How do designers, residents, material producers and craftsmen create architecture together?’. MJVHA formulated an answer in the form of a walk through the corridors of De Singel, a walk through the history of the firm, a walk in the company of Marie-José Van Hees’ network.

The exhibition consists of a walking route that, for the duration of the exhibition, forms a branch of the GR 5A (Grande Randonnée), which runs past De Singel. Along a newly planted swamp cypress (marked in red and white), the walk leads through the corridors and inner gardens of Léon Stynen and Paul De Meyer’s conservatory. With subtle interventions, MJVHA demonstrates its care for the existing building. The fire doors between the original building and the addition by Beel Architects have been replaced by glass doors. This intervention opens up a line of sight and places the mural by artist René Guiette, located in a hidden corner of the building, back on the mental map of De Singel residents and visitors. The route then takes visitors to the corridor, which offers a view of the Antwerp Ring Road (where, at the time of Stynen and De Meyer’s design, a hilly fortified landscape stretched out). MJVHA rebuilt the layout of the original exhibition from 1993: seven distinctive lecterns with large books displaying photographs and sketches of the oeuvre.