8 August 2019 – Following the exhibition of Alternative Histories in London last spring, the exhibition travels to Belgium this September. Acknowledging that architecture is a corpus of inherited ideas, Alternative Histories began with a question: could contemporary architects, with their own references, make a model that would respond to a drawing from the past?

The resulting exhibition collects the 85 models produced by the same number of architecture practices alongside the drawings that prompted them. Taken as a whole, the responses challenge the facile understanding of concepts like reference, history or influence as drivers of contemporary architectural thinking. From methods to materials, the project illustrates ways of looking at the past and diverging options for architects to shape the present. My contribution was a tiny MDF model of a holiday cabin by Josef Hoffmann.

A catalogue will be published to coincide with the show in Brussels. Designed by Mathias Clottu, the catalogue includes an essay by Marius Grootveld and the original drawings/prompts, alongside two series of photographs of the models, by Thomas Adank and Guus Kaandorp. The book will be available in three different covers. For a sneak-peak or preorders click here.

Alternative Histories will now be on show at CIVA, Brussels, from 6–29 September. Further details on the exhibition and public programme becomes available on the Alternative Histories page. Alternative Histories  is co-curated by Jantje Engels and Marius Grootveld in collaboration with Drawing Matter and the Architecture Foundation, London.