Paru le 15/04/1998 | Broché 286 pages
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A partir de 1919 l'architecte Louis Herman De Koninck (1896-1984), disciple de Victor Horta, est amené à participer à la reconstruction des régions dévastées par la Grande Guerre. Il s'attache à mettre en évidence la simplicité et la logique des constructions rurales traditionnelles.
A partir de cette base de connaissances il invente des systèmes de constructions économiques, met au point des enduits à base de verre concassé et de graviers, affine un procédé de chauffage central par gravitation, imagine la cuisine moderne Cubex... autant d'inventions qu'il intègre au sein de solutions architecturales plastiques qui le situent d'emblée parmi les grands inventeurs de formes des années 20 et 30.
Les réalisations de Louis Herman De Koninck ont été publiées dans toutes les grandes revues d'architecture de l'époque et il est présent aujourd'hui dans tous les dictionnaires et ouvrages traitant de la première moitié du 20e siècle.
In 1919, architect Louis Herman De Koninck (1896-1984), a former student of Victor Horta, was asked to help with the reconstruction of those parts of Belgium that had been destroyed in the First World War. He began by demonstrating the simplicity and common sense of traditional rural building methods. With this approach as a basis, he devised an innovative programme of economical construction. For these low-cost, mass-produced houses, De Koninck introduced a new kind of plaster made of crushed glass and gravel, worked out a gravity-activated central heating system, and invented the modern Cubex kitchen. With these practical, pioneering steps to his credit. De Koninck brought valuable solutions to the architectural problems of his day ; he was widely recognised as one of the major designers of new forms in the Twenties and Thirties.
The achievements of Louis Herman De Koninck were studied and published in all the most important architectural reviews of the period. And today he is cited for his contribution in any reference work concerned with design and architecture in the first half of the 20th century.
