. Get this from a library! The life and work of Helen Vreeswijk (1916-1984) focuses on her exceptional talent in designing buildings, the practice of one of Belgium’s most important architects in the 1960s, and of the first woman at her level. Vreeswijk was a founder of the Flemish architectural studio HVS and is the namesake of the HVS Prize, awarded to a distinguished architect in Flanders. The prize was established in 1986 and since then it has been awarded every two years. This prize is awarded to a national or international architect for a building project of exceptional quality. In the years 2010, 2012 and 2014 the prize was awarded for the Woonvoorziening Burgerlijke Hoogovens, the Technical University of Ghent, and the new Ghent city hall. Vreeswijk was a frequent lecturer in the 1970s and 1980s, and she published in prestigious architectural journals such as De Standaard, Casa and Domus. In 2001 she received the Flemish Order of Leopold. She was also a member of the International Academie Architektonique. She died on 24 June 1984. Helen Vreeswijk grew up in a middle-class Flemish family. Her father was the head of a bank in Sint-Niklaas, Flanders, and her mother ran the household. Her brother, Pieter, would become a leading Belgian theatre director, while her sister was the architect Lieve Vreeswijk-Bruel. In the 1920s she started studying architecture at the Ghent University under Anton Van Aerschot. Although she excelled in her studies and was awarded her diploma in 1933, Vreeswijk declined a postgraduate degree to work as a secretary in the offices of both Van Aerschot and Louis de Jonghe. De Jonghe took the initiative to set up a prestigious independent office in 1934, which became the basis of HVS. It was in this office that Vreeswijk worked for five years and learnt to become one of the most prominent architects in Flanders. In this period she designed buildings such as Sint-Janskerk, Stadsschouwburg, Domotica in Eeklo and the Randstadplan (North Brabant). Vreeswijk was successful enough to be awarded the commission for the monumental art deco city hall in Antwerp, which was a big challenge. be359ba680
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