A Candy-Colored Arts Center That Doubles As A Work Of Op-Art

From one direction, the Academie MWD looks as colorful as a pack of Starburst. From another, you might not even notice it’s there. The Academie MWD, an arts center in Dilbeek, Brussels, is situated at a crossroads that’s uniquely varied. To the south is the city’s main square, with restaurants and shops. To the north is the Wolfsputten, a protected forest. West of the building is the CC Westrand, a Brutalist concert hall, and to the east lay a series of quaint suburban homes. In designing the facility, architect Carlos Arroyo had a distinct challenge: Erecting a building that made sense from all four directions. The first trick Arroyo employed is one of scale: The jagged edge of the roof on the building’s east side mimics those of the homes beside it, growing like a bullish stock chart to the cantilevered auditorium at the structure’s other end, a bett...