THE FORMULA OF SILENCE

 

‘Quiet, … look! Water, grass and trees.

A contemplative combination, the secret of the most beautiful garden, large or small.

The formula of silence, which everyone should master.

A more beautiful living environment for all of us would become a reality!’

 

Andy Malengier

June 1, 2005

Wervik park cemetery – Photo Andy Malengier

Andy Malengier, born in Ypres on June 9, 1971, upholds a clear philosophy. His designs must have a positive effect on people’s state of mind and on the (re)development of outdoor spaces.

Andy Malengier grew up in Wervik and already as a child had a great passion for nature, gardens, landscapes, cemeteries, architecture, drawing, and painting. At the age of 15, he moved to Ghent to study Artistic Humanities at the Sint-Lucas Institute. The artistic and architectural training under the expert guidance of architect Gilbert Decouvreur and the intensive training in sketching and watercolor painting by visual artist and cartoonist Benoît van Innis turned out to be the perfect foundation for his later studies in landscape architecture at the Hogeschool Gent in Melle.

Once he obtained his higher education diploma, Andy Malengier did not immediately start out as an independent garden architect. He worked for several landscaping companies where he could gain practical experience. During this time, he combined his work with a postgraduate course at the Department of Monument and Landscape Conservation at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.

These studies were cut short when he was offered a position with the city of Wervik as deputy head of the municipal parks department.
After three years, he took the leap into independence and founded his own design office.

His field of work is very broad. It encompasses the design of private and public spaces, from master planning down to the fine-tuning of the last millimeters on-site.

With his designs for cemeteries and memorial sites, he distinguished himself effortlessly, as evidenced by the International Funeral Award (IFA) he won in 1999 with his design for the Wervik park cemetery. This was a unique achievement, as he surpassed the much-discussed realization of the Kortrijk cemetery, designed by Milanese architect Bernardo Secchi.

In 2000, Jan Hoet saw the model of the Wervik park cemetery in the Wervik town hall and invited Andy Malengier to participate in the exhibition Epiphany – Contemporary Art & Religion at the Park Abbey of Heverlee. Inspired by Ernst Haeckel’s natural studies, a strongly geometric design for the expansion of the abbey cemetery was projected onto a large glass gate, temporarily replacing the cemetery’s wooden gate.

In 2004, he won another IFA in the category of funerary art, with several of his gravestone designs receiving recognition.
In 2007, he won the IFA again with the realization of four cemeteries for the municipality of Zonnebeke. Meanwhile, he received multiple commissions to study cemeteries across Flanders.

Andy Malengier became laureate with the new Vleteren cemetery and also won the design competition for a new cemetery in Watou. Because of Watou’s status as a village of the arts, his design for the new cemetery there can be regarded as a worthy, permanent artistic contribution. He integrated the grave monument with the poem Death by poet Eddy van Vliet, placing it as a window onto the landscape. The monument had earlier been erected by Eddy van Vliet’s friend, poet Gwij Mandelinck, based on a design by architect Stéphane Beel.

In 2009, an international competition was organized by the Koknese Foundation with UNESCO’s support, for the realization of a memorial site for 600,000 Latvians who perished or disappeared under Soviet rule. The site was an island in the Daugava River near Koknese, Latvia. At the invitation of landscape architect Helena Gutmane from Riga, a joint concept was developed. The competition was not won—no small feat given the 207 entrants from 31 countries. The design by Japanese landscape architect and Zen monk Shunmyō Masuno was chosen and executed.

In 2011, Andy Malengier initiated the design of a memorial monument for the two Australian brothers Jim and John Hunter. John Hunter was killed in 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres, dying in the arms of his brother Jim. After completing the design, a non-profit association was founded to finance the monument. Named the Brothers In Arms Memorial, it was built in Zonnebeke. This ambitious project was realized in collaboration with English artist Sören Hawkes, Australian sculptor Louis Laumen, and Belgian lettering artist Stéphanie Busard.

In 2013, as part of the art trail Grensverbeelding, he realized a temporary installation at the Wervik park cemetery. With the installation Epekeina, he clarified the deeply human and mythical border imagery that had already been integrated into his 14-year-old design of the cemetery. Image and sound were inseparably linked in the installation. The continuous playback of Tibetan singing bowls provided visitors with a transcendent experience.

In 2015, Andy Malengier was commissioned by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge to carry out the landscape restoration study of the German WWI cemeteries of Vladslo and Langemark.

In 2016, a design was made for the art route Menin Road – Ypernstrasse – Landscape, Form and Psyche along the N8 road, which runs through Menen, Wervik, Zonnebeke, and Ypres. The in-situ artworks were meant to represent the dramatic course of the four-year trench war through which the “Menin Road” or “Ypernstrasse” ran.

For this art route, he designed an installation named Resurrectionem (Resurrection). The installation was not realized, but the design can live on in its own right, embodying his artistic empathy with the site’s landscape, form, psyche, and war history.

In 2021, commissioned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), two design visions were created for the redevelopment of the Canadian St. Julien Memorial with the statue The Brooding Soldier in Langemark, and the Malbork Commonwealth War Cemetery in Poland.

In 2023, both German cemeteries and The Brooding Soldier were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

He also realized remarkable grave monuments such as the monument for the Dominican friars of Brussels at Zellik cemetery and the monument for the Sisters of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows at Ruiselede cemetery. Various other monuments were realized at the cemeteries of Wervik, Marke, and Drongen.

 

The Farewell Circle

A very important goal in his cemetery designs is to elevate the ritual of parting and later commemoration to a higher level. Central to this are the circular, partly open farewell and remembrance spaces. In the heavy hour of farewell, the family can sit in a circle around the dearly departed, symbolically holding on a little longer while simultaneously letting go.

Through this architectural movement, the farewell ritual is performed in a way we have long forgotten and which is no longer sufficiently embedded in our society. The circle is an answer to a diachronic need—a timeless human need for places where ritual can occur. Andy Malengier rediscovered and realized this need in landscape architectural or land art form at numerous cemeteries in Flanders. The first farewell circle was built in 2014 at the new Vleteren cemetery. He is therefore regarded as a pioneer, or rediscoverer, of this age-old funerary and commemorative architecture.

In 2025, the first catalog of Andy Malengier’s trademarked AMA® collection appeared. The AMA® design was born out of a general need for a dignified and beautiful way of ash interment, intended to elevate the ritual of ash burial and later commemoration at cemeteries. The AMA® collection consists of five harmonious product lines, including columbarium and urn monuments, memorial monuments, farewell monuments, ash scattering monuments, and more. The name AMA® is an abbreviation of ArsMoriAndi, inspired by the Latin Ars Moriendi, Ars Vivendi. Translated as The Art of Dying and The Art of Living, in this context it means The Art of Burial.

Beyond these distinctions and prestigious assignments in the world of cemeteries, Andy Malengier also won an important competition for the redevelopment of the village center of Oostnieuwkerke. The design was literally “groundbreaking”: he proposed that the municipal council of Staden remove about 100 meters of roadway. The integration of art was also a key feature. Inspired by the philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, Andy Malengier set the theme for the art competition. In a chapter of his work Being and Nothingness, Sartre discusses “the gaze of the other.” The dual artwork by sculptor Maen Florin translates this philosophy and highlights the importance of a central open space as a place of encounter. In Oostnieuwkerke, the sculpture cannot exist without the park, nor the park without the sculpture.

The redevelopment of the Wevelgem municipal park was also declared the best park realization in Flanders in 2018.

Andy Malengier’s projects cover all facets of garden and landscape architecture, always seeking to understand the essence of each site and translate it into sustainable designs. These include residential developments, company grounds, holiday and adventure parks, and gardens around schools and care homes. Among the many commissions are the entrance and roof garden of the TVH Visitor Center in Waregem, and the masterplan for the entire grounds of the Psychiatric Center Sint-Amandus in Beernem.

 

He has also realized numerous private gardens, from city gardens to large landscaped estates.

 

In 2023, Andy Malengier was honored with the commission to renovate the Montméry castle garden in Ambazac near Limoges. The garden was originally created in 1890 to a design by the famous American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of many great American city parks including Central Park in New York.

Vleteren park cemetery inauguration – Photo Friedel Pil

‘The power of the discipline of garden and landscape architecture lies in the art of creating places that stimulate the senses, provide joy, encompass paradoxes, reflect traditions and engender expectations. These places have aesthetic qualities that are enduring and valued, independently of the specific economic and social conditions they are created from.’ – Sven-Ingvar Andersson (1927-2007), Swedish landscape architect and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen (Source: ‘Lexicon van de tuin- en landschapsarchitectuur’ by Meto J. Vroom)

By consistently applying this beautiful definition of the true activity of the garden and landscape architect, plans are drawn up and advice is given regarding the (re)development of private and public outdoor spaces.

 

Vision

Gardens, parks, squares, cemeteries, and village centers must be conceived and created. Landscapes, on the other hand, we tend to perceive as age-old givens of nature. Nevertheless, we intervene extensively: we live and work in them, drive through them— in short, we make use of them, so that slowly but surely humankind has left its mark. And yet, even in urbanized areas, blessed quiet places can still be found where the view can inspire not only poets, painters, or photographers, but also you and me.

Especially where landscape architecture lends a helping hand to the surroundings, open-air sanctuaries emerge in which visitors may linger with delight. Spaces where they can also spiritually breathe again, finding the serenity they need to immerse themselves in awareness and reflection.

Thus, landscape architect Andy Malengier designs and develops in harmony with the natural setting and the cultural context, creating magnificent outdoor places where something fundamentally human can be experienced. Places of optimal perception where encounter and involvement are central. Where the path leading there is just as important. Where a balance between openness and intimacy always provides people with a sense of comfort. Where the ritual of farewell and later commemoration of a loved one take place in the most beautiful setting. Places where the art of living, the art of dying, and the art of letting go find perfect harmony.

Amidst the passing of the seasons, with an interplay of forms and lines, of nearness and perspective, the places designed by Andy Malengier are small oases where one can experience the outdoors in peace and silence. Places that modern man, in his banal and profane everyday world, needs from time to time.

His work allows us to see and feel how intimately we can experience a landscape setting and helps us to rediscover a lost, yet fundamental aspect of our existence. His work is a narrative. It is a narrative of quietude, beauty and awareness, in which the human experience is central.

– Bart Vuylsteke

 

‘Andy, So much beauty in the park cemetery makes a man silent. Can one detach oneself from many daily worries. Having to give up a loved one takes on a deeper meaning in your beautiful realizations and leads to inner peace and tranquility.’

– Paul Decorte

 

 

‘Here, the designer creates a clean and light atmosphere, in contrast to which everything everyday means so little’

– Gilbert Decouvreur

 

 

‘Andy, you have a true gift for bringing nature, history and values together in one serene setting. You create an atmosphere where one can be sincerely focused on the moment of farewell and memories. Your work is admirable.’

– Sven Garreyn

 

 

“Very impressive! Especially the monumental ‘passing through’ from life to death, from the bustle of everyday life, of each existence, to the assured eternal rest—and vice versa—makes me suspect that you draw inspiration from time- and space-transcending prehistoric burial monuments. The communication circle between the present and what is to come is also remarkable!”

– Dokter Luc Maertens

 

 

“Andy, you may be proud that through your realizations you have had a great influence on the way many people say farewell. Silence and reconciliation indeed resonate in your designs. With great respect and admiration.”

– Veronique Hostens

 

 

‘As a matter of course, every municipality should have as magnificent a park cemetery as Wervik does. A beautiful place where one can reflect on life. The life of yourself and of your loved ones who are gone.’

– Henk Claeys

 

 

“Dear Andy, I have the greatest admiration for your magnificent designs and realizations, and I also hold deep respect for the profound background behind them. Andy, as a master of your craft, you are leaving a lasting mark on our landscape.”

– Bernard De Cuyper, ere-schepen van de Citty of Brugge

 

 

“For me, a walk through the park cemetery is pure gold. The silence there is so intense. Simply encountering yourself is striking, and certainly also healing. The hornbeam trees still tell you that there is hope. And all this in combination with the melancholic song of the robin! It is simply magnificent.”

– Martine Desmarets

 

 

‘What strikes me in the work of Andy Malengier is its sleek austerity and a nearly mystical ambiance. Such places, to my mind, are deserving of the epithets ‘blissful’ and ‘sacred’.

– Daniël Vanhoutte

 

 

“Andy, in your work, form and spirit come together as one. And that can truly be felt.”

– Architect Patrick Descamps

 

 

‘It was the designer’s great and glorious task to speak to the sorrowful in the language of beauty, a language of peace that passeth all understanding.’

– Gilbert Decouvreur

 

Aside from the never-ending pursuit of a ‘quiet experience of the outdoors’, which is a common thread throughout my work, I apply eight important principles to create responsible garden and landscape architecture. These eight principles were formulated by my architectural mentor, Mr Gilbert Decouvreur. It was a gift, in my student days, to be artistically trained in Gilbert Decouvreur’s studio. I still experience his masterful teaching in my practice and try to apply it in my designs as best I can.

 

1. Fascination with nature

Geometry is an abstraction of the natural order!

2.Fascination with ancient cultures

Ancient cultures are the herbaria (or plant libraries) of future architects. The varied beauty of the distant past requires a good amount of knowledge and empathy.

3.Respect for the historic environment

Historic environments are very vulnerable and need their own particular kind of care. All great architecture is integrated into its surroundings with respect!

4. Distinguishing between the superficial and the deeply human

Learn to see the distinction between the architect who positions themselves as controversial and superficial and one who designs architecture that is deeply human. In order to create beautiful designs, one must possess this deeply human quality. If not, all endeavour becomes an exercise in trends.

5. A truer interpretation of functionalism

Reject a narrow, rational functionalism in favour of functionalism that is pluralistic, complex and contradictory.

6. A truer interpretation of functionalism

New trends must be placed in a historical context instead of being blindly followed.

7. The socio-economic versus the artistic-creative

Public space should be furnished using an artistic-creative approach, not a socio-economic one!

8. Confrontation with great architecture

Study trips must include confrontations with truly great architecture. They should not be trend-identifying tours, but confrontations with masters.

Study according to the first principle – Fascination with nature; geometry as an abstraction of the natural order! Study of the perfect proportions of a plant cell in Bristol board. Andy Malengier, Atelier Gilbert Decouvreur, Sint-Lucas, Ghent, 1989