Response to the article ‘The Fragmentation of Architectural Culture’ by Véronique Patteeuw in A 279, Aug–Sept 2019, p. 9

I was annoyed by the article published in issue 279 of A regarding the launch of the ICA/WB project, and so I feel compelled to respond. The first question is from what perspective the author wrote the article. Was it her personal opinion? In that case, there is no issue. Everyone is free to react to initiatives of this kind, and controversy fosters a lively debate in a democracy. However, this article should have appeared in the opinion section. Its placement immediately after the editorial and the fact that the author is a member of the magazine’s artistic committee give the impression that this article reflects the editorial team’s viewpoint. And from that perspective, one might expect Belgium’s only architecture magazine, which claims to lead the debate on architectural culture in this country, to guarantee a certain standard with regard to the information it disseminates.