Louis Bosny - Pour une architecture sobre et créative

Louis Bosny is an unknown. But history is made by millions of unknown men and women whose work contributes to our collective well-being.

What Bosny was doing was architecture. In a progressive spirit. He designed homes, hospital wards and schools. Attentive to everyone's needs. Anxious to build the best with limited budgetary means. As a young man, he fought against the Nazi occupying forces during the Second World War. Once peace was restored, he campaigned for social justice. To the very end, he remained an inventive creator (his personal house is full of finds), an activist convinced that everyone has the right to decent living conditions.

You may know him, without knowing it, through the places you frequent...

By devoting an exhibition to the architectural achievements of Louis Bosny, from the 1950s until his death in 1982, La Cité Miroir aims to show the importance of this behind-the-scenes work and to question housing policies in Belgium today, at a time when rents are skyrocketing and the number of homeless people continues to rise.

The exhibition unfolds in a structure that is both minimal and monumental, based entirely on cardboard, making both an aesthetic choice and an ethical statement.

The exhibition is based on a book recently published by éditions Fourre-Tout, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024.

The author, architect Jean-Michel Degraeve, traces the story of his family and professional career at a time of far-reaching social reform. His meticulous research into this man who had fallen into oblivion led to the discovery of original documents and photographs that provide a thoroughly documented overview of Bosny's life and work and the reality of social housing.