Foundation Horta House

Restoration Preservation and Sharing this Emblematic Sleeping Beauty waking up to its full Glorious Heritage of Art Nouveau from the founding father "Victor Horta".

The Horta House revival is much more than the heritage, the bygone era and how to preserve it. And certainly much more than owning a house. The Horta House makes a statement about the future.

What kind of cities we want and indeed, what kind of cities we need.

This in Brussels that has undergone multiple and erratic iterations of the future, each time adding a layer haphazardly on top of the ones that were there before minting the term “Brusselisation” as a token for confused and rushed city planning. And as such a symbol for what goes on pretty much everywhere else in our modern cities: a rushed future leaving the habitants behind.

The Horta House is stuck in between two high-rise building, “modern” by the standards of their time, a little speck of humanism in the cogs of the machines, a rosebud shooting through the slabs of expired modernism, to which it offers an essential alternative; that of being well in your human envelope. More than a caricature, this opposition is striking to visitors and make the house as it stands and what it stands for, reverberate loud and clear against the hard cold surfaces and hollow structures surrounding it.

The Horta House is inclusive not exclusive, an organic festival of sweeping lines, soft corners, streaming lights, suspended spaces, colours and materials in symbiosis, celebrating nature and humans as integer parts of each other with no one dominating the other.

We want to promote these values so that they are prevalent when our future cities are planned and readjusted, with human well being, beauty and culture at their core for generations to come.

It is about reclaiming not only the house but through it, our cities at large, showing that this more inclusive life style is essential, making us whole again. Resuscitating the Horta House is therefore more than just salvaging its parts or reciting its captivating history. We intend to show by our action how we as individuals and together in our communities, in our daily lives, can change our habitats to the better. Aspirational to some, inspirational to many many more hopefully.

By scraping the white paint off the underlying frescoes, the walls bloom again, albeit bruised and battered, unearthing a certain take on humanism that will only grow in importance as automation, mechanical & digital prowess spread to all corners of our lives. It is not about opposing technological and human progress, it is about finding balance and sequence, of who serves who in which order and to which ends.

The Horta House is a lived and indeed a living thing. It is inhabited by us as it inhabits us in turn. How could it be otherwise? Uncovering the premises and the rich heritage on so many levels, demands a constant presence, a complete immersion, a total dedication to the very little and the very big. It implies many crafts, an open mind and an open door as we welcome everyone who wishes to share our universe, to come in and see, hear, feel for themselves, all senses keenly alive.

Today therefore we dare to say that the House is much more than it has ever been or was intended to be. Not only because of the public events we organize within itswalls to spread the mission near and far or the actions we lead outside of it in various circles, media and institutions, but because of its role and relevance in today’s society to today’s audiences, bringing meaning and beauty to their lives and offsprings, showing a way forward that is neither rectilinear nor rushed.

Originally a private habitat hidden behind closed doors for the privileged few founded on a progressive elitist school of thought, today a vehicle for an inclusive culture, attainable to all, centred on humanism and nature, matured through the societal evolution and counter-evolution it has encountered, endured, since.

Again thus offering a progressive proposition, a human future, but for a much larger audience this time around and with potentially a much greater impact. The dialogue with society we propose has just begun and leading by example, we intend to be a trustworthy, inspiring and responsible conversation partner to whoever choses to listen to us.

Welcome to our common world. Let’s make it better, more Human.