# Leon Stynen > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Leon_Stynen > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Leon_Stynen.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Stynen > Source revision: 1329369307 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}} {{short description|Belgian architect}} {{Infobox architect | name = Leon Stynen | native_name =Léon Stynen | image = Leon Stynen.jpeg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Léon Stynen | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|07|15|df=y}} | birth_place = [Antwerp](/source/Antwerp), Belgium | death_date = {{Death date and age|1990|05|13|1899|07|15|df=y}} | death_place = | nationality = | other_names = | alma_mater = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | awards = | practice = | significant_buildings = | significant_projects = | significant_design = | signature = | website = | embedded = }} '''Léon Stynen''' (15 July 1899 – 13 May 1990) was a Belgian architect, urban planner and designer, from [Antwerp](/source/Antwerp). Some of his buildings have been categorized as "refined" [Brutalist architecture](/source/Brutalist_architecture) and [modern architecture](/source/modern_architecture). He has been called one of Belgium's greatest architects of the 20th century. == Early life == thumb|Stynen's contest-winning war memorial: Herdenkingsmonument His father was sculptor and designer Jean-Baptiste Stynen. In 1921 Leon Stynen graduated from the [National Higher Institute](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Fine_Arts_(Antwerp)) in Antwerp. Also in 1921, Stynen won a competition to design a war monument in [Knokke](/source/Knokke). The contest-winning memorial Stynen designed (Herdenkingsmonument 1914–1918) was to commemorate the [World War I](/source/World_War_I) veterans from Knokke. A total of 16 designs were submitted and Stynen's was accepted. He collaborated with a sculptor named [Guillaume Dumont](/source/Guillaume_Dumont) to make the monument. There is a plaque affixed to the monument on which Dumont's name is misspelled "Dupont". The monument features four standing figures representing soldiers: they lean against a center column. The sculpture was inaugurated 11 June 1922. == Career == Stynen was active designing buildings from the 1920s to the 1970s. He was also an educator who influenced the architects from Belgium. In 1963 he was made the first president of Belgium's Order of Architects. He was called one of Belgium's greatest architects, and there are many buildings in [Flanders](/source/Flanders) which were designed by Stynen, and they still exist to display the Modern architecture style. In the 1920s Stynen designed four casinos in Belgium. The first was the [Knokke Casino](/source/Knokke_Casino). He designed the casino in the style of [Le Corbusier](/source/Le_Corbusier). In designing the casino Stynen also was influenced by his background n [Beaux-Arts architecture](/source/Beaux-Arts_architecture) and the [Art Deco](/source/Art_Deco) movement. He experimented with different styles of architecture and eventually settled on Modernism. By the 1930s he was a respected architect in Belgium. In 1939 he was asked to work with [Henry van de Velde](/source/Henry_van_de_Velde) and [Victor Bourgeois](/source/Victor_Bourgeois) to design the [Belgian pavilion](/source/Belgian_Building) for the [1939 New York World's Fair](/source/1939_New_York_World's_Fair). The building was an [Avant-garde](/source/Avant-garde) example of Modernist architecture. The structure was supposed to be disassembled and returned to Belgium after the fair, but as a result of the [1940 German invasion of Belgium](/source/German_invasion_of_Belgium_(1940)) the building remained in the United States. Twenty-seven different institutions wanted the building but it was granted to [Virginia Union University](/source/Virginia_Union_University). In 1963, he experimented with a technique that allowed a [cantilever](/source/cantilever)ed facade on the [BP-building Antwerp](/source/BP-building_Antwerp). All of the floors and the facade of the building are held up with steel cables and supported from the rooftop beams. The building still stands today. In 1968 Stynen and Paul De Meyer's designed Church of Sint-Rita in [Harelbeke](/source/Harelbeke). It was called an example of [Brutalist architecture](/source/Brutalist_architecture). The building looks like a pyramid from the outside and inside there is an entirely open space with a [skylight](/source/skylight). == Gallery == File:Léon Stynen De Zonnewijzer Antwerpen (7325) 29-07-2019 10-32-27.jpg|The sundial at the Mechelsesteenweg in Antwerp File:Léon Stynen Parkwijk Casablanca Kessel-Lo 16-11-2018 12-05-20.jpg|King Albert building of the Park District Casablanca in Kessel-Lo File:Léon Stynen Parkwijk Casablanca Kessel-Lo 16-11-2018 12-07-11.jpg|King Albert building of the Park District Casablanca in Kessel-Lo Sint-Ritakerk te Harelbeke - vormen.jpg| Sint Ritakerk in Harelbeke File:Léon Stynen Basisschool Heffel Kessel-Lo 16-11-2018 11-17-06.jpg|Heffel primary school in Kessel-Lo File:Léon Stynen Basisschool Heffel Kessel-Lo 16-11-2018 11-27-27.jpg|Heffel primary school in Kessel-Lo File:Léon Stynen Kantoorgebouw E.B.E.S. Mechelsesteenweg 271-273 Antwerpen (7329) 29-07-2019 10-23-06.jpg|Former EBES building in Antwerp File:DeSingel, Antwerpen 01.jpg|[DeSingel](/source/DeSingel) in Antwerp File:Léon Stynen BP-building Antwerpen (6958) 29-07-2019 12-29-09.jpg|Léon Stynen [BP-building Antwerp](/source/BP-building_Antwerp) File:Financietoren.jpg|Finance Tower in Brussels == Books about Leon Stynen == {{refbegin}} *{{Cite book| title = Léon Stynen | trans-title = A Life of Architecture (1899-1990) | last = Laureys | first = Dirk | year = 2018 | publisher = Vlaams Architectuurinstituut | location = Antwerp, Belgium | language = de | isbn = 978-9492567116 |ref=none }} {{refend}} == References == {{commons}} {{cite book |last1=Hylton |first1=Raymond |title=Virginia Union University |date=2014 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |location=Charleston, South Carolina |isbn=978-1-4671-2248-1 |pages=52–54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p9c8BQAAQBAJ&dq=Charles+Thaddeus+Russell+architect&pg=PA54 |access-date=6 January 2022 |archive-date=26 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226161100/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Virginia_Union_University/p9c8BQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Charles+Thaddeus+Russell+architect&pg=PA54&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }} {{cite web |title=Stynen2018 |url=https://www.vai.be/en/projects/stynen2018 |website=vai |publisher=Flanders Architecture Institute |access-date=8 January 2022 |archive-date=8 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108215419/https://www.vai.be/en/projects/stynen2018 |url-status=live }} {{cite web |title=More about Léon Stynen (1899-1990) |url=https://www.architectuurarchiefvlaanderen.be/nl/artikel/meer-over-leon-stynen-1899-1990 |website=architectuurarchiefvlaanderen |publisher=architectuur archiefvlaanderen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114141540/https://www.architectuurarchiefvlaanderen.be/nl/artikel/meer-over-leon-stynen-1899-1990 |access-date=8 January 2022|archive-date=14 November 2018 }} {{cite news |last1=Buxton |first1=Pamela |title=A taste of Belgian brutalism |url=https://www.ribaj.com/culture/leon-stynen-brutalism-on-a-human-scale-silver-building-review |access-date=6 January 2022 |publisher=RIBA 1834 Ltd. |date=26 June 2019 |archive-date=6 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106172844/https://www.ribaj.com/culture/leon-stynen-brutalism-on-a-human-scale-silver-building-review |url-status=live }} {{cite web |title=Memorial To The Fallen Knokke 1914-1918 - Leon Stynen |url=https://www.myknokke-heist.be/nl/art-city/gedenkteken-gesneuvelden-knokke-1914-1918-leon-stynen |website=My Knokke |date=2 July 2021 |access-date=6 January 2022 |archive-date=6 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106212453/https://www.myknokke-heist.be/nl/art-city/gedenkteken-gesneuvelden-knokke-1914-1918-leon-stynen |url-status=live }} {{cite web |title=Commemorative column military victims of the First World War |url=https://inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be/erfgoedobjecten/58640 |website=onroerenderfgoed |publisher=Flanders imagination works |access-date=9 January 2022 |archive-date=9 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109040803/https://inventaris.onroerenderfgoed.be/erfgoedobjecten/58640 |url-status=live }} {{cite news |last1=Liu |first1=Emerald |title=Casino Royale: Stynen's Unrealized Sculpture Garden |url=https://drawingmatter.org/casino-royale-stynens-unrealized-sculpture-garden/ |access-date=6 January 2022 |publisher=Drawing Matter |date=30 March 2021 |archive-date=6 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220106191135/https://drawingmatter.org/casino-royale-stynens-unrealized-sculpture-garden/ |url-status=live }} {{cite news |last1=Winston |first1=Anna |title=Five buildings by Belgian architect Léon Stynen that are worth visiting |url=https://www.dezeen.com/2019/01/10/leon-stynen-architecture-belgium/ |access-date=6 January 2022 |publisher=Dezeen Magazine |date=10 January 2019 |archive-date=29 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229183813/https://www.dezeen.com/2019/01/10/leon-stynen-architecture-belgium/ |url-status=live }} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Stynen, Leon}} Category:1899 births Category:1990 deaths Category:Architects from Antwerp Category:20th-century Belgian architects Category:Modernist architects Category:Brutalist architects --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Leon Stynen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Stynen) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Stynen?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.