Ikebana meets Architecture: Pelckmans

Hera Van Sande (1969) is a Belgian architect and architectural engineer. She graduated from Ghent University in 1991 and later earned a PhD from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, researching Japanese Modernism. Her research brought her to Japan, where she was a researcher at Shibaura Institute of Technology in Tokyo. A practicing architect since 1993, Van Sande is currently managing director of JUNO architecten. She has collaborated with Japanese architect Toyo Ito on projects including the Bruges Pavilion and the competition for De Krook Library in Ghent. Van Sande teaches architecture at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and KU Leuven and contributes to architectural discourse through publications and editorial work. She is also artistic director of Archipel, an organization promoting architectural awareness in Flanders through lectures, travel and cultural initiatives. Her practice explores how architecture can respond to changing societal challenges, with particular attention to nature, light, air, scarcity and the relationship between space and its users.