Interview: Marie-José Van Hee

Marie-Jose Van Hee

Source: Jef Van Eynde

Hugh Strange talks to Marie-José Van Hee about her approach to architecture and the importance of the domestic in projects of all scales

Could you say a little bit about your background – where you grew up, where you studied and how you came to start your own practice?

My father was in the building sector, and as a little child I liked to be in his working area more than being with my mother in the kitchen. When I was 17 I had to choose what to do for further studies and I found something between the idea of constructing, like my father did, and designing. At that time it was not so normal, there were not many girls in architecture. In my year at Sint- Lucas Architecture School there were only four girls out of 80 students. In my fourth year, I came together with Paul Robbrecht, Christian Kieckens and Marc Dubois, and I felt much better in their company because the years before were more about interaction and talking, not making architecture.

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