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This text is an addendum to my portfolio that provides the visitor with an explanation of the overall concept. The website is conceived as an Abécédaire, which is an historical object that since antiquity served as an educational tool for children. It consists of an alphabetical table carved in wood that sets the initials of the 26 letters in relation to words, images and texts. The concept of the Abécédaire stands as a metaphor for my own architectural and anthropological thinking and practice. To me, the nexus of the two disciplines consists of ‘life’ in relation to its environments. Language and representation are the most profound way of communicating, corresponding and making sustainable entanglements within a network of various actors, humans and nonhumans alike. In this semantic and semiotic framework, I always try to approach every case by asking myself three main questions. What does the ‘architecture’ want to manifest? How does it want to communicate this? To whom is the message dedicated? The 26 letters of the alphabet are all independent parameters of which a vocabularium, grammar and language can be infinitely (re)constructed. The determination of the right combination of ‘letters’ is an endless resource of creative expressions within this communicative field. It enables us to talk, listen and make new correspondences with our ever complex environment. It teaches us to hear, smell, touch and see the dynamic boundaries of the material and immaterial worlds. Therefore, having studied both disciplines, my portfolio starts with the first letter “A" that stands for Architecture and Anthropology.

All the textual and visual material is produced by Quinten Malfait, in the academic context of the University of KU Leuven

Contact: quintenmalfait@gmail.com