Ludovic Henri Marie Van Essche was born in Brussels, Belgium in 1935, the son of the artist and educator, Maurice Van Essche (1906-1977). When the Germans occupied Belgium in 1940, Ludovic and his mother fled to what was then the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo), to join their father who was on a painting expedition, funded the year before by the Belgian government. Together, the family settled in South Africa, where Ludovic’s father founded the Continental School of Art, in Cape Town. Ludovic studied Architecture at the University of Cape Town before heading to the UK and enrolling on the 1965-66 postgraduate programme run by the Architectural Association’s Department of Tropical Studies, in London. Ludovico successfully completed the course, graduating with an AA Diploma in Tropical Studies in July 1966. He practiced privately in Cape Town and in London and also engaged in academic research, lecturing at a number of institutions, including Lund University, the University of Liverpool and University College, Nairobi (now University of Nairobi) – also serving as a Professor at the Royal Danish Academy, in Copenhagen. For the first half of the 1970s, Ludovic was located in New York working for the United Nations (UN) as a Social Affairs Officer at the Centre for Housing, Building and Planning, where he was engaged in technical co-operation programmes. In the latter half of the 1970s, he shifted roles, moved to the UN Disaster Relief Organization (UNDRO), based in Geneva, where he held the position of a Disaster Relief Coordinator, working for disaster mitigation in seismic regions. Promotion followed and after a stint as Senior Coordination Officer, Ludovico was appointed Senior Officer and Deputy Chief of the Mitigation Branch of UNDRO. He has written extensively on a range of subjects related to housing, urban planning and various aspects of disaster mitigation, including ‘Shelter After Disaster: Guidelines for Assistance’, published as UNDRO policy and programme guidelines in 1982.
Sources
- Architectural Association Student Register, 1945-71. AA Archives
- Architectural Association Council Minutes, 18th July, 1966. AA Archives
- Essche, L. van, ‘Shelter After Disaster: Guidelines for Assistance’ UNDRO, 1982
- Hays, W., Essche, L. van, Maranzana, F., ‘SEISMED and IDNDR: Opportunities to reduce the risk from earthquakes and other natural hazards’, Episodes, Vol. 14, No. 1, March 1991, pp13-18
