Julien De Smedt

Background

Julien De Smedt is the founder of JDS Architects, an award-winning and internationally acclaimed studio. Its approach to architecture and design is unconventional, and it keeps working to challenge the norms that already exist. JDSA is a multidisciplinary office focused on architecture and design, from large-scale planning to furniture, founded and directed by De Smedt, co-founder of PLOT. Trained as an architect, he was born in Brussels and has worked in 45 different countries.

Signature Style

The office's approach is affirmatively social in outcome, enthusiastic in ambition and professional in process, and it aims to take a fresh look at design issues through experienced eyes. De Smedt sums up the philosophy of JDS Architects this way: "Our projects are humanly designed, politically engaged, financially viable, and structurally realistic." For furniture he wanted something simple and clean, and he describes his Stacked design as a reaction to everything he did not want it to be.

Notable Works

Selected projects of JDSA include the Holmenkollen Ski Jump in Oslo, the Kalvebod Waves harbour bath in Copenhagen, the Iceberg apartments and mixed-use development in Aarhus and the Maison Stéphane Hessel youth centre in Lille. His furniture for Muuto comprises the Stacked Storage System modules, clips and the Mini Stacked Storage System.

Legacy

De Smedt's work crosses architecture and industrial design, from waterfront and civic buildings to a configurable shelving system. On Scandinavian design he says it has moved from a veneration of simple, pure lines to something more fluid, eclectic and colorful, while the consistency of the classics is still oddly maintained.