It is sometimes claimed that a designer’s creative power wanes as they approach retirement age. The early work of Nouvel, Perrault, Gehry, Hadid, Koolhaas or Herzog & de Meuron is fascinating, whilst their later work sometimes raises questions. In a rather idiosyncratic way, this claim does not apply to Xaveer De Geyter Architects. Although radical and provocative projects such as the Europakruispunt, the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp, or After-Sprawl now date from the (distant) past, recent work still bears witness to the same subversiveness. XDGA Architects is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, yet Xaveer de Geyter (b. 1957) sees little reason to dwell on the past: ‘I don’t have time to look back; I just carry on.’

Veronique Patteeuw – In 2004, you gave a lecture at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. The then director, Francis Rambert, introduced you to the audience as an ‘architect-urban planner’ with a fascination for the urban fabric: ‘the urban fabric preoccupies him, stimulates him, even excites him.’1 How do you view that statement today, almost 20 years later? Has the ‘urban order’ you were striving for back then changed?