Rooted in the real

Geert Bekaert (1928) is the most influential and most productive architecture critic in the Dutch-speaking area. Since the fifties, he has been involved in every possible theoretical, critical or cultural debate on architecture. In Rooted in the real a broad selection of his writings is for the first time ever presented to an English-speaking audience. The book consists of four divisions: in part 1, theoretical essays are collected. In part 2, Bekaert writes on the oeuvres of both young and old Belgian architects. Part 3 presents shorter criticism of contemporary architecture. Part 4 presents a selection of his writings on international architects, such as Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, Le Corbusier and Aldo Rossi. Each text is accompanied by insightful illustrations, often pictures taken by the author himself and previously unpublished. The collection is preceded by an introduction by Christophe Van Gerrewey.