‘Better ugly than boring’: book celebrates bizarre Belgian houses

Hannes Coudenys' Ugly Belgian Houses updated with more from the chaos known as Belgium'

Ever since he was a child, Hannes Coudenys was annoyed by the visual chaos" around him. On the road from home to his school in Bruges, he found a mishmash of architectural styles - haciendas, villas, farm-style houses, all mixed up with boxy malls and carpet shops.

One day, as an adult, still exasperated, he took a photo of a house that was split into two jarringly different styles: a grey urban semi whose other half was a jaunty brick cottage. He put the photo online with the title ugly Belgian houses", and an internet trend was born.