Open Call 50 online
Apply for Open Call 50 before November 14th 2025, 11:00am
Publication date:
Nine new projects
You can apply for three new projects. Applications will be open until 11:00 AM on Friday, November 14th. The first selections will be announced in Febrauri 2026. In the selection guide of each project you will find all the information you need to apply.
Véronique Claessens about Open Call 50
Dear designers and clients,
The publication of Open Call 50 marks my first feat as Flemish Government Architect. This 50th edition is an interim milestone, with no fewer than 756 published and 351 completed projects behind us. Along with the international recognition and appreciation of the Open Call as a procedure, the architectural quality and social added value of the completed projects mean that the Open Call is and remains a highly relevant and valuable instrument. I therefore wish to encourage public clients with construction plans to continue to call as much as possible on the Flemish Government Architect and her team in the preparation of their project dossiers and the selection of designers.
This edition includes three projects from local authorities in Ostend, Herentals and Heist-aan-Zee. All three invite designers to translate ambitious agendas and policies into infrastructure projects in the service of staff and residents. Working with the clients, my team refined the programmes in an attempt to maximize social added value.
Public space is an important theme for me. It will be one of the pillars of the ambition statement I will be presenting in a few months. In each of these three projects, architecture and public space are the subject of one and the same design assignment. When assessing the proposals, I will therefore pay attention in the first place to the design capabilities of architects, public space designers and landscape architects. I look forward to discovering their qualities and references, and I am confident that, in consultation with my team, I will arrive at three strong and diverse selections, as for the projects of the previous 49 editions.
The Open Call holds few secrets for me. As director of spatial development for the city of Genk, I gained a lot of experience with the procedure over the past twelve years. Time and again, we were surprised, as clients, by smart solutions we had not thought of ourselves, or we were given answers for a broader context and problem definition. In my view, this is precisely where the strength of good designers lies: in daring to think critically about the assignments at hand and in using creativity to tackle local challenges.
I wish everyone involved every success and look forward to five exciting years as Flemish Government Architect.
Véronique Claessens, Flemish Government Architect
Applying for the Open Call
Conditions for selection
You enter your application via the My Open Call module and meet the ‘conditions for selection’. The information you need to provide for this purpose:
- the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD)
- proof documents concerning social, tax and financial obligations (only for non-Belgian agencies)
- any proof of professional orders
- three projects from your own practice. This administrative information must be submitted, but will not be assessed in terms of content.
Candidacy and selection restriction
You can then apply for one or more projects. In order to do this, you enter the information under ‘selection restriction’. It includes:
- the form of application (agency or temporary partnership)
- the memo ‘ambition for the assignment’
- three specific references tailored to the ambitions of the project for which you are applying.
The team composition will only be assessed at the award phase. This means that the evaluation of the applications and the restrictive selection to four or five candidates will only consider the design agencies. Supporting expertise (techniques, acoustics, participation…) is not included in this phase of the assessment. So there is no point in applying in a team with supporting expertise. After having received the complete project file, you will put together your multidisciplinary team with partners and subcontractors in order to draw up an integrated tender.
What are the conditions I have to fulfill to participate in the Open Call?
Contact
If you have any questions to which you cannot find the answer, please contact us at:
- E-mail : [email protected]
- Phone: +32 2 553 01 11
Flemish Government Architect Erik Wieërs and his team wish everyone the best of luck in their application!