{"id":19702,"date":"2025-08-07T13:53:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T11:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/?p=19702"},"modified":"2025-08-07T13:53:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T11:53:51","slug":"piet-and-louis-bailyu-father-and-son-versatile-architects-committed-to-a-family-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/architecture\/piet-and-louis-bailyu-father-and-son-versatile-architects-committed-to-a-family-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"PIET AND LOUIS BAILYU, FATHER AND SON, VERSATILE ARCHITECTS COMMITTED TO A FAMILY MISSION"},"content":{"rendered":"

Renowned Belgian architect Piet Bailyu and his son Louis give us a glimpse into their creative souls.<\/p>\n

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They also offer us a fascinating look at one of their most striking creations on the Belgian coast, the Brink office in Knokke-Heist. It is a modern office building, which also houses the Bailyu family’s architectural firm, Project Architect. Creativity and architectural style are in the Bailyu family DNA. It has been that way for four generations. Grandfather Gustaaf was the city architect. Piet’s father, Danny, followed in his father’s footsteps. Now, Piet is flanked by his son Louis. And next, Arnaud, the youngest of his three sons, will soon be joining the team on Nati\u00ebnlaan. Both father Piet and son Louis are proud of the fact that they never have creative conflicts. \u2018We complement each other well. We have a strong affinity and balance each other well. The legacy continues.<\/p>\n

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A striking feature of the Bailyu offices is the transparency of the spaces, subtly and discreetly demarcated here and there by rusting reinforcement bars. It is characteristic of the architects’ work: raw materials in a sleek space with lots of natural light. This is a particularly attractive workplace, with a feeling of tranquillity. And yet the interior also reflects a great deal of dynamism and refined creative choices.
\n\u2018When you enter an office space, you should sense that people are working,\u2019 says Piet. \u2018We don’t hide anything here. On the contrary, everything is openly visible. This tasteful and well-thought-out design is in part the work of interior architect Pauline Vantournhout. She contributed a lot of good ideas in that regard.\u2019<\/p>\n

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LOUIS VUITTON 2.0<\/p>\n

The Brink Office is far from the only unique creation by the Bailyu duo. Piet has a fascination with old farmhouses\u2014a passion often reflected in his work. One of the spaces even features a raw wooden workbench that looks as if it came straight from a medieval forge. An authentic workbench in a modern office space.
\nIt\u2019s no coincidence then that their firm was commissioned to design the new Louis Vuitton boutique in Knokke (editor\u2019s note: on Kustlaan).
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a small, authentic old villa that we fully restored\u2014or rather, renovated\u2014to its original state. But using modern materials and techniques. The new Vuitton boutique really turned out to be a gem. A very successful project.\u201d<\/p>\n

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STYLISHLY INTEGRATED INTO THE LANDSCAPE<\/p>\n

The outside of the Brink office impresses as a low, compact structure, even though the building has nearly 6,000 square metres of (office) space. Neither the architect nor the municipality wanted a dull cube, or a large, austere and symmetrical block. Nor was a bombastic glass office building desired. For Piet, it had to have class and blend into its environs\u2014without giving the appearance that it might blow away in the first stiff breeze. It is an unequivocal success.
\n‘The vertical columns that I integrated between the different sections create a more compact look. If those beams were horizontal, it would appear much more voluminous.\u2019
\n‘Entrepreneurs should also want to base themselves here because it is beautiful. I think it is very important to be stylish on the inside and outside.\u2019
\nYou\u2019ll find Brink Office on Nati\u00ebnlaan in Knokke-Heist, just behind \u2018La Fl\u00e8che\u2019
\n(photo), an artwork by French artist Jean-Pierre Raynaud\u2014as if the two \u2018works\u2019 were meant to find each other.<\/p>\n

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Renowned Belgian architect Piet Bailyu and his son Louis give us a glimpse into their creative souls. They also offer us a fascinating look at one of their most striking creations on the Belgian coast, the Brink office in Knokke-Heist. It is a modern office building, which also houses the Bailyu family’s architectural firm, Project […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19702"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19837,"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19702\/revisions\/19837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.villasdecoration.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}