OASE 120: Quality Settings / Kwaliteitskamers

Issue 120 of OASE Journal for Architecture is an issue about settings of quality mediation:

"‘Quality’ is an all-pervasive concept in contemporary architectural practice, yet it is also a somewhat vague notion that can be used for many very different valuations. Talking or thinking about a high-quality built environment opens up new opportunities for critical interpretation and for new social or ecological endeavours. By the same token, the concept of quality may limit the arena for the evaluation and legitimization of architecture to expert opinions.

This issue of OASE considers contemporary processes and environments in which the quality of (public) architecture is negotiated. How do state or city architects, urban quality commissions or design competitions ensure the quality of regional planning? What is the importance of the exchanges and negotiations between designers, experts, mediators and other stakeholders? And how do these ‘settings’ fit into the evolving frameworks of architectural culture, urban or infrastructural policy and the political economy?" (OASE website)

The issue was edited by Susan Holden (University of Queensland), Maarten Liefooghe (UGent/OASE), Elsbeth Ronner (Lilith Ronner van Hooijdonk/TU Delft/OASE), and Maarten Van Den Driessche (UGent), with articles by Stefan Devoldere, Florian Hertweck, Susan Holden, Maarten Liefooghe, Julie Mabilde, Elsbeth Ronner, Kirsten Schipper, and Maarten Van Den Driessche. On November 4, 2025, the editors presented the issue (in dialogue) with the Ghent City Architect.

Project Info

Research group: Architecture Culture and the Contemporary (ACC) and Theory and History of Architecture
Duration: from 01-10-2023 to 04-11-2025
Researchers: Maarten Liefooghe and Maarten Van Den Driessche