Material Dialogues

In her Phd project Material Dialogues, rounded off in 2023 at Ku Leuven and U Antwerp, Eireen Schreurs challenged the traditional view of materials as passive elements shaped by architectural design. Instead, she explored materials as active participants in the creative process, influencing the structure, form, and meaning of buildings. The thesis proposes a "material lens," treating architecture as a dialogue between the architect and the material, with both playing equal roles. She examined three historical examples of innovative use of iron—Henri Labrouste's Bibliothèque Nationale de France (1868), Otto Wagner's Postsparkasse (1906), and Sigurd Lewerentz's Sankt Petri Kyrka (1968)—to highlight how materials like iron and steel shaped architectural form.

By analyzing these projects, the thesis introduced 'material motives', concepts that describe how materials can generate new design possibilities. The Bibliothèque’s iron columns merged stone and cast-iron properties, Wagner’s prefabricated steel columns incited new ornamentation, and Lewerentz’s steel column reflected the material’s lifecycle. Schreurs' approached history from an architectural viewpoint, emphasizing material innovation’s role in shaping architecture and offering a fresh perspective for addressing current challenges in the field.