"Different modes of practice afford more or less freedom to consider architecture’s fundamental nature and mitigate the extent of the compromises that the external world imposes on it. This freedom is fought for and not always without cost.
The Flemish architect Marie-José Van Hee has rallied against these compromises throughout thirty years of practice in which she has produced a highly considered and consistent body of work. She has pursued an authentic architecture with diligence, tenacity and a healthy scepticism of prevailing conditions."

David Grandorge in "New houses in Belgium and Holland reveal the quiet lyricism of Marie-José Van Hee" in Architecture Today 224, January 2012

In her work, Marie-José Van Hee and her team of architects are renewing the tradition of building timeless architecture. Throughout her career, she has devoted a particular attention to space, natural materials and light and has made use of classical elements such as the window, door, fireplace, staircase and gallery to anchor the house, the public building or even the city.Marie-José Van Hee has gained over the years esteem and respect for the extraordinary high quality of life which offer the buildings she designs. She catches in an unpretentious way the intimacy of living in stone and light, In addition, she also reinvents the townhouse typology as a cornerstone of the city of tomorrow. These great qualities make her work unique.Her designs for public buildings and bridges are less known. But nevertheless, one by one they also shape a humanistic vision on architecture and the city i.e. the valorisation of public space as a meeting place and the use of an truly authentic architecture to intensify the experience of light, space and human contact.

Marie-José Van Hee (*1950, Ghent BE) studied architecture at the Higher Institute of Architecture Sint- Lucas in Ghent (Hoger Architectuurinstituut Sint-Lucas).She formed her own architecture studio in Ghent in 1975. Since 1990 her office has worked closely together a numerous projects with Robbrecht & Daem architecten with whom she shares an office in Lieremanstraat in Ghent. Currently, she employs 8-10 collaborators who are working on projects for public buildings, private houses and urban development.
As a professor in architectural design, Marie-José Van Hee is connected to the Architecture Department of Sint-Lucas School of Architecture. She has lectured in Belgium, The Netherlands and UK and has been a guest lecturer and critic at universities in Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Marie-José Van Hee has participated in the 13th Biennale di Venezia on invitation of curator David Chipperfield and has been nominated for the Mies Van der Rohe Award 2013 (Market Hall Ghent BE, in collaboration with Robbrecht en Daem architecten) and in 1999 for her own house (Ghent BE). She has won numerous awards, among others the Provincial Prize for Architecture in 1993 and 2003 and the Biannual Culture Prize for Architecture of the Flemish Community in 1997. Since 2008 Ms. Van Hee is a member of the Royal Academy for Sciences and Art.