Glenn Sestig Architects

Glenn Sestig, born in 1968 in Ghent, Belgium, earned his degree from the Henri Van De Velde institute in Antwerp and in 1999 established a practice together with painter Bvardk. From the outset, their work focused on extreme precision, on a construction with such mastery of the architectural line, proportions and perspective that it is easy to forget the careful consideration that will have gone into their design and creation.

Glenn Sestig Architects is synonymous with contemporary chic. His work can be seen as unrelentingly urban and contemporary - materials are exclusive and its combinations are renewing and unique. Each completed work is considered as a minor work of art wherein art and fashion are essential sources of inspiration. The architecture is no longer a movement in time but becomes a declaration of a global luxurious lifestyle.

With regular publications in renowned magazines and recognition in global architectural awards Glenn Sestig has earned his place as one of the most noticeable architects out there. Early commissions included shops, nightclubs and penthouses in Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels, but over the last couple of years the projects grew in size ranging from villas to hotels. Thanks to some earlier projects Glenn has had the opportunity to design for fashiondesigners such as Raf Simons, Pieter Mulier and Olivier Theyskens, but also for artist Isolde Pringiers and world-renowned artist Luc Tuymans as well as the dj duo Soulwax/2 many dj’s.

Because of these magnificent projects great exposure was created in magazines such as Wallpaper*, who in turn initiated new projects such as the flagship store of Hieronymus as well as multibrand shoestore Coccodrillo. Glenn Sestig received international recognition with new projects from Zürich to London and from Milan to Saint-Tropez. A new worldwide venture is about to happen.

In addition to the material and its interpretation, transparency, the play of reflection suggest rather than illustrate the endeavours that have resulted in the real grandeur of some projects, primarily places for public use. Since they are closely related in function to the image of the self, Glenn Sestig develops a seductive relationship, inviting visitors to spend a narcissistic moment with themselves.

To achieve this, he deploys a knowledge of the situation that is almost mystical. According to Sestig, space is the product of a complementarity, a cohabitation between the individual and his body continues in the private interiors. Here, however, the conspicuous ingenious device of the mirror is seen in the context that gives it is meaning, its sense of distance and dimension.

Glenn senses that less can be more while remaining sensitive to proportion, contrast and nuance. At the end of each design process, each project he aims to create comfortable living spaces layered with beautiful things that serve as the backdrop onto which his clients’ lives are reflected - a home. To give his work coherence, the architect uses his own method of calculation, a sort of mental model from which flow the intelligence, equilibrium and soul of a place.

This necessary analytical exercise, which involves decoding the common roots of work, does, however, have one grave shortcoming: the temptation to reduce a multiform whole to al limited numbers of factors, stripped of perspectives. But these exist, nonetheless, and are all the more evident in the world of the office. The arrangement of planes, the way the lines are drawn, the depth of colour, the use of light come into play, all of these confirmed by the choice of materials.

But this explanation is a tribute to reason, tho the Cartesian way of thinking that is not immediately applicable to the architecture of Glenn Sestig. However it is put into practice and whatever its purpose, it engages through the sensitive way in which it appeals to the emotions. Do we not find here an extraordinary realisation, that of timeless places, whose beauty arises from a process that draws on an uncodified thought process; could this be emotional intelligence?