Belgian architect and writer, born in Antwerp. He studied architecture in Antwerp. He was influenced by Russian Constructivism, and while studying he designed a project for a linear city between Antwerp and Liège for which he produced several drawings using gouache and collage. From 1936 to 1937 he worked in Paris with Le Corbusier. His early, modernist architectural theories were similar to those of Le Corbusier and were expressed in the construction of the Kiel district (1949-58) and the tower of the Administrative Centre (1951), both in Antwerp. He later evolved a "biomorphic" lyricism, which is most evident in the flowing lines of the Rectory of the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels, constructed on an oval plan. Braem was a tireless polemicist and very talented draughtsman. He edited the journals Bouwen en Wonen (1952-62) and Plan (1963-65) and stimulated architectural debate in Belgium throughout his career by the adoption of extreme positions and the design of utopian cities.
