A costume for Manneken Pis
On Wednesday, November 30, on the occasion of its ninetieth anniversary, the Royal Professional Union of Architects (UPA-BUA) offered Manneken Pis its 1,104th costume. In fact, he did not yet have an architect's outfit, although he already has several from the construction world.
The academic part of this friendly and friendly event brought together first at the Town Hall, the presidents and representatives of the main bodies of the profession (Order, federations, various associations) both regional and federal (and even European, in the person of the president of the Council of Architects of Europe).
After the welcoming speeches of the president of the Manneken Pis Committee and the alderwoman of Culture and Tourism, Madame Delphine Houba, the president of the UPA-BUA recalled the roles that architects fulfill within the city , whether as construction professionals but also as cultural actors, a role which has been neglected for too long but which was brought back to light in the Davos Declaration in 2018 (declaration signed by our ministers of culture ), in the call for Baukultur or in the New European Bauhaus.
He also wanted to point out that the many challenges that architects must meet (in terms of energy savings and sustainable development, etc.), can only be achieved through good collaboration between all stakeholders in the field. the act of building.
The participants then went in a procession to the fountain, after taking a tour of the Grand’Place, preceded by the Meiboom fanfare. The statue of Manneken Pis, dressed in his new clothes, was unveiled at midday in the presence of many architects and friends. After being sprayed by a few powerful jets from "little Julien", a group joined the Architects' House, at Sablon, always preceded by the fanfare, to share a drink of friendship during which we could discover the projects of the winners of the 2022 Van Hove Prize, awarded to graduates of the different architecture faculties in Belgium.
Note that Manneken Pis will still be able to wear his new costume, during the coming years, on the occasion of the annual architecture days (which are held at the beginning of October).