A Lost Abbey Reimagined In Steel

Pieterjan Gijs and Arnout Van Vaerenbergh, founders of the art and architecture studio Gijs Van Vaerenbergh, based in Leuven, Belgium, first met in kindergarten. Though that playground friendship was lost to time, they reconnected as young adults in architecture school at KU Leuven and began a partnership exploring the disciplines’ liminal spaces. Now celebrating its 20th year, their experimental studio has grown its projects to public-realm scale. 

GVV’s biggest intervention to date is Clausura, a tubular-steel structure recreating the lost cloister of the 12th-century Herkenrode Abbey, in Hasselt, as a true-to-life-size 3D line drawing. Years of neglect and an 1826 fire have left the Cistercian abbey complex, once one of the area’s grandest, the site of more ruins than intact buildings. The absence of its cloister—clausura in Latin—“felt like a fundamental loss,” explain Gijs and Van Vaerenbergh, who also produced an exhibition at Leuven’s Bac Art Lab and a book, both titled “Fictional Ruins,” for their anniversary. While not an exact replica, their permeable Clausura, they add, “makes that missing heart tangible again,” complete with an interior arcade and a pair of steeples atop its gabled roof. It’s phase one of three, scheduled for 2028 completion. gijsvanvaerenbergh.com

milestones 20 years

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