Jan De Vylder

Can one talk about steel without talking about colours? At least: can one talk about steel without talking about paint? As paint always comes with a colour it seems it is impossible to talk about steel without talking about colours.

Steel does not only need paint – or protection - it is also the ideal underground for paint. However painting steel is not just about painting steel. It comes with preparation, and it comes with different layers. Sometimes it comes unprepared. Sometimes it arrives only prepared in need of finishing. Sometimes it arrives yet finished.

Preparing and finishing is not only a matter about the next layer. It is also matter of different expectations in performance and quality. Steel needs to be protected. Oxidation is its first concern. But also fire protection is another of a kind. Preparation or protection is maybe not only a matter of paint. It can come by static protection or sink protection. But when it comes to pain preparing is not about only under layers. It is about layers with specific expectations or characteristics. Nonetheless the structure or glans of surface that the final paint can give yet the preparations might give structure to the paint.

But at all and at the end yet every other layer in between might have a colour connected to the quality or meaning of the underlying paint even can identify the brand that delivers that quality, finally at the end the final colour might be a matter of choice. Or not?

Let’s talk about colour!

CV

Jan De Vylder, born 1968, is a Flemish architect based in Ghent and Brussels, Belgium. He has worked under his name since 2000. In 2005 together with Inge Vinck jan de vylder architecten was founded. Later on in 2010 architecten de vylder vinck taillieu was founded together with Inge Vinck and Jo Taillieu. And more recent architecten jan de vylder inge vinck was founded with Inge Vinck. In this divers constellations Jan De Vylder has realized several works in Belgium and abroad and has been exhibited in galleries like MANIERA (BE), FRIEDMAN BENDA (US), TOTO MA (JP) and biennials (Venice 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018; Chicago 2014, 2016; Lisbon 2019 and Sao Paolo 2019). Since 2010 editing houses like 2G (ES), A+U (JP), deAedibus (CH), ARCHIVE (ES) and more recent TOTO Publishers (JP) have published several monographs on the work of Jan De Vylder. Moreover severel international nominations and prizes have been won like Schelling Architektur Preise 2016 (DE), Leone d’Argento in La Biennale di Venezia 2018 (IT), Henry van de Velde-award 2018 (BE) and nominated finalist Mies Award 2019 (EU). Jan De Vylder has co-curated the Belgian Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia in 2016. The exhibitions Caroussel 2015 (gta/ETH-Z); Bravoure Scarcity Beauty (Venice 2016) and Unless Ever People (Venice 2018) opened new reflections on architecture and practice. Jan De Vylder has taught at Sint-Lucas School for Architecture in Ghent and Brussels, at TU Delft, at EPFL Lausanne, and at Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, and since 2017 he has been teaching at ETH Zurich.