On a little-known 1970s experiment in pneumatic architecture by the Belgian architect and Atelier Alpha cofounder

A.J. Lode Janssens (born 1947) is one of Belgium’s most idiosyncratic architects and a radical educator. He was cofounder of the experimental studio Atelier Alpha and the Sint-Lucas Werkgemeenschap, a workshop linking architectural education, practice and research, and operated in close collaboration with ILAUD, the International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design. A.J. Lode Janssens: 1,47 mbar presents The Balloon, an all-but-unknown temporary pneumatic home experiment, built in 1973 in Humbeek, where he lived with his family until 1986. Lode Janssens considered it an uncompromising ephemeral attempt at de-architecturalization and living in harmony with nature: a cave-dwelling, a work-in-progress, an empirical residence. This publication accompanies the exhibition A.J. Lode Janssens: Balloon Home at CIVA in Brussels.