Why make an Instagram page dedicated to beautiful works of architecture when you could highlight the ugliest buildings instead? Everyone who has ever visited Belgium will know that its architectural landscape is a lot of things: interesting, typical, eclectic and also a little ugly at times. You have to see it for yourself in order to get what we are saying and if you’d prefer to visit some of Belgium’s most enchanting ugliness, Hannes Coudenys – the man behind the Instagram page Ugly Belgian Houses – is here to make that possible for you.
In a world where aesthetics and interior design play a more important role than ever before, Ugly Belgian Houses is here to show you a different perspective of things. Here, there’s no place for the perfect mansion or the cutest villa. Instead, we’re talking fake stones, wannabe castles, inverted houses and not-so-successful renovations. All of them plucked out of the Belgian landscape, from the Ardennes all the way to the coast and everywhere in between. The goal? We’re not intirely sure if there is one, but it certainly is diverting and a great success.
Ugly Belgian Houses once started out on Tumblr; now, there’s an Instagram page, two books and even a television show. Because apparently, we all want to get a glimpse of some of the ugliest houses out there, whether it is to feel better about ours or because after all, ugliness does have its perks.
So how does it work? How does Hannes Coudenys – who by the way has his own creative agency in Brussels called Hurae – choose his victims? How does he define an “ugly house”? “Hard to tell. I generally go for houses that are very expensive. With an owner who really takes care of his house and who has a very particular style. It’s all in the proportions, the details. It’s very difficult to explain. It’s my definition of ugliness. Everyone to their own…”, he told Architectural Digest.
“I’m used to taking highway exits that I don’t usually take. I’m going on safaris in order to find houses. Nowadays, it’s the houses that find me. My community sends me at least three pictures a day”, Coudenys added.
