Koen Van Synghel is an independent architect, scenography architect and critic. He is a PhD. candidate with a research on Implicit architecture criticismin the praxis of contemporary artists, and has studied architecture in Ghent & Architectural History and Theory at the KULeuven. He is currently professor of Architecture criticism at the KUL - University of Leuven.
Van Synghel was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennal (2004) for his architectural project of Kinshasa, the imaginary City, a multimedia-exhibition representing the Belgian Pavillion, which he also curated in collaboration with anthropologist Filip De Boeck. He has published the following books: Young architects in Flanders, deSingel, 2001; Citybranding, Image Building & Building Images, NAI-editors, 2002; Coussée & Goris, Ludion, 2006; co-auteur of De gesproken Stad, Literarte, 2005 and The world according to Bylex, KVS-Africalia, 2009. He was also the co-curator of Timefestival 2007 and curator of Schets of Schim, an exhibition about architecture & intuition in dr. Guislainmuseum, Ghent.