Dialogues 31 — Dirk Somers
April 2026
Henley Halebrown is hosting Dialogues 31 with Dirk Somers on 'Gestalt: What We See but Have Stopped Talking About' on Wednesday 29th April, 2026.
Gestalt is an abandoned field of knowledge in architecture. The last fundamental contributions date from the post war era. Yet Gestalt insights explain a lot of our appreciation for well designed buildings. Is Gestalt worth talking about in the 21st century? Let’s see...
Dirk Somers studied Architecture in Antwerp and Milan, and Urbanism and Spatial Planning at the University of Leuven before starting his career as a founding partner of Huiswerk Architecten. In 2011, he established his own practice, Bovenbouw Architectuur, in Antwerp.
The practice has built extensively in Belgium, and its work has been exhibited worldwide. In 2019, the practice held its first solo exhibition, The House of the Explorer, at deSingel in Antwerp, accompanied by its first monograph, Living the Exotic Everyday. In 2021, Dirk curated the exhibition Composite Presence for the Belgian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Dirk has taught architectural design at TU Delft since 2003 and has been a Visiting Professor at Ghent University since 2011.
Detail of the Porta Pia by Michelangelo.