Milano, 14.12.12

I am Stéphanie Gielen and I'm from Antwerp, Belgium. I have one big passion in life, Architecture.
I study Architecture at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. But for the moment I’m studying in Italy, at the Politecnico di Milano. I’m doing an Erasmus project, which I dreamed of my whole life. I have always lived in Belgium but was brought up multi-culturally thanks to my parents. The past few years I’ve been travelling through various countries in the world. They all made my knowledge about different cultures and their own architecture increase.

I was able to have a great opportunity like this, to visit a foreign institution and country for a prolonged period of time. It is really too good to pass up and I hope not only to explore this institute, but also to get the chance to do a phd in a foreign country.

In the future I will almost certainly be confronted with international relations and different cultures from around the world as I see myself travelling around the world to discover all kinds of fascinating architecture. This is why it is important for me to gain as much experience in these fields as possible to give me the best possible start to my career.

I want to become a great architect, this is what I want. I don't do half measures, I want it all. In the future I’d love to be at the forefront of the evolution of architecture. I would hate to be a normal pencil pusher and I am open to any experience that would set me up for possible greatness.

I want to create ‘architecture which expresses representational aspects of the real world, such as nature, history, tradition and society, in a spatial structure, which is an abstract concept, composed by clear, transparent logic.’ [Tadao Ando]

Stéphanie Gielen