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Stephanie Van de Voorde

  • category
    professor
  • research group
    Architectural Engineering
  • keywords
    architecture
    heritage & preservation & architectural history

Stephanie Van de Voorde holds a Tenure Track position in Architectural and Construction History at the Department of Architectural Engineering of the VUB. Breaking away with traditional perspectives in architectural history and heritage studies, her main research topics are related to 20th century building materials and building culture, as well as young heritage. She teaches architectural and construction history and the history of urban planning (Bachelor courses in Architectural Engineering) and ‘Theoretical Reflections on Monument Care’ (Master course in Architectural Engineering and in Urban Studies).

Stephanie graduated as Master of Science in Civil Engineering: architecture in 2005 (UGent). Her PhD dealt with Building in Concrete in Belgium (1890-1975). Interplay of Knowledge, Experiment and Innovation (2011, UGent, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning and Department of Civil Engineering). In 2011-12, she did research on the history of architectural education in Belgium at the Flemish Architectural Institute (VAi) and Artesis University College (UAntwerpen). Since 2013, Stephanie has been affiliated with the Department of Architectural Engineering of the VUB as a post-doctoral researcher and research professor.  The research projects she conducted were related to, among other things, post-war building materials and building techniques in Brussels (Strategic Research Program, Innoviris, 2013-2016) and France (Smart French, French Ministry of Culture and Communication, 2016-2018). Stephanie is also one of the supervisors of a Living Lab-research project on the VUB student homes by Willy Van Der Meeren (Innoviris, 2017-2021). Stephanie also (co-)supervised the Visiting Fellowships and scholarships of international researchers (e.g. Bill Addis, Alison Creba, Sabine Kuban, Sara Wermiel, Joana Proi, Takuya Miyake, Dalila Ghodbane). Other research projects she (co-)supervises are the Interdisciplinary Research Project 'Re-Building Brussels (1695-2025). The construction sector as an engine for social inclusion and circularity’ and the EOS project 'Construction History, Above and Beyond. What history can do for construction history'. 

Stephanie co-organised the Sixth International Congress on Construction History (6ICCH, Brussels, 2018) and co-edited the proceedings ‘Building Knowledge, Constructing Histories’. Stephanie is also a founding member of the International Federation for Construction history and co-chairs the research group Construction Histories Brussels. In relation to the field of heritage, she is a member of the editorial board of the bimonthly journal M&L. Monumenten, Landschappen en Archeologie, and an Expert Member of the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee 20th Century (ISC20C). Stephanie is a board member of vzw Korei and of the Brussels Centre for Urban Studies.

Keywords: architectural history; construction history; heritage; history of urban planning