Throughout his life, he designed a number of important urban architectural buildings, mainly in Colombia, where he worked as the department of Antioquia's official architect during the 1920s.

He was the son of Celina and Alfonso Van Engelgeny (1847-1922), a leading intellectual in the European academic circles, as a librarian in Antwerp and later as a senior archivist of the Kingdom of Belgium.

At a young age, Goovaerts began studying drawing at the Academy of Arts in Brussels, which he later completed in addition to architecture and engineering at the University of Leuven.

Mandatory practices for students at Belgian universities allowed him to have direct contact with the work of Victor Horta, who was commissioned, the old Abbey of La Cambre, and the Dutchman Hendrik Berlage.

During this period he created his largest projects, almost none of which is preserved, such as the Junín Theater, Cellular Jail La Ladera, and Ismael Correa Calpe, which hosted the mayor of Medellin in the twenties.