Engineering authorship and agency in mid-twentieth century Belgian church construction

Abstract

This paper examines the evolving role of engineers in mid-twentieth century Belgian church construction, highlighting how their responsibilities were shaped by shifting institutional structures, economic constraints, and evolving professional hierarchies. Through three case studies—Saint Pius-X (Forest, 1962–1970), Notre-Dame de Stockel (Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, 1962–1967), and Saint-Rita (Harelbeke, 1963–1967)— this paper reconstructs how engineers were appointed, how their roles evolved, and how their contributions intersected with procurement and oversight mechanisms. The findings reveal that engineering authorship was neither linear nor monolithic. Engineers operated within a fragmented decision-making network, where their influence depended on financial, procedural, and regulatory factors. At Saint Pius-X, prefabrication embedded structural expertise within manufacturing, minimizing the role of independent engineers. At Notre-Dame de Stockel, the lack of early oversight led to instability, eventually necessitating SECO’s intervention. Meanwhile, at Saint-Rita, the engineer played a key role in execution but had limited influence on the design, with SECO again ensuring technical precision. More broadly, the study situates these cases within mid-century construction trends, where prefabrication, standardization, and external quality control reinforced a shift from individual expertise to distributed decision-making. By reassessing the role of engineers not only as technical experts but as negotiators within complex construction landscapes, this paper offers a more nuanced understanding of authorship and collaboration in post-war architecture.