Belgium's Cultural Renaissance: BRUSK, Design Museum Gent, and Palais des Expositions Transform Urban Fabric

Three major Belgian cultural projects have recently opened or reopened, reshaping the urban fabric of Bruges, Ghent, and Charleroi. In Bruges, the new BRUSK exhibition hall opened in May, a 9,500-square-metre concrete and glass building designed by Robbrecht en Daem Architecten with Olivier Salens Architecten. It features a roof of dark green glass plates embedded with PV cells and two 14-metre-high exhibition halls. The project also renovated a 1930s school building into BRON, a research centre, and created a public piazza. French artist Laure Prouvost contributed a monumental fresco in the central Scala Grande. In Ghent, Design Museum Gent reopened after a seven-year expansion and renovation by Carmody Groarke, ATAMA, and RE-ST. The new five-storey wing, with an all-timber frame and white brick facade made from local mineral waste, adds a café, lecture theatre, and rooftop terrace. The museum's reopening coincides with Design Fest Gent from October 3 to 11, featuring exhibitions like 'Public Matter(s): Design and Democracy'. In Charleroi, the Palais des Expositions, a 1950s exhibition hall, was renovated by AgwA and Architecten Jan de Vylder Inge Vinck. The project, which won the 2026 Mies van der Rohe Award, transformed the building by opening up the centre, creating urban terraces, and repurposing the south wing as a multi-storey car park. These projects highlight Belgium's commitment to sustainable adaptive reuse and contemporary cultural infrastructure.