A new organisational structure for Architecture Workroom – News – Architecture Workroom Brussels

The board of Architecture Workroom Brussels is pleased to announce a new phase in its leadership and organisational structure. From now on, we are structuring our work in three teams around the societal transformations on which we, together with our partners, will continue to focus on in the coming years: fossil-free and resilient neighbourhoods, productive sponge landscapes and societal infrastructure.

This evolution is accompanied by a renewed leadership structure. After 15 years under the direction of founders Joachim Declerck and Roeland Dudal, the day-to-day operations and further development of the organisation will from now on be carried out jointly by a management team consisting of Bram Vandemoortel, Hanne Mangelschots, Lene De Vrieze, Caroline Van Eccelpoel, Roeland Dudal and Joachim Declerck. As such, we consolidate the accumulated experience and fruitful cooperation of the past years.

The societal transformations will further structure the organisation. Roeland will lead the societal infrastructure track; Hanne the fossil-free and resilient neighbourhoods track and Bram the productive sponge landscapes track. Lene and Caroline are respectively in charge of AWB's strategic and business coordination. Joachim assumes the formal role of director.

The board expresses its sincere thanks to Roeland for the indelible contribution he has made to the projects, way of working and impact of Architecture Workroom Brussels as director over the past 15 years. Furthermore, we are saying goodbye to Frank Van Damme, who has been the financial director since 2022. We sincerely thank him for his valuable role in the further professionalisation of the organisation.

With this new re-drawn organisational scheme and shared leadership structure, Architecture Workroom is ready for the future. We look forward to building even more powerfully together on innovative practices, processes and coalitions for societal transformation.

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Since 2010, Architecture Workroom Brussels has focused on the future of our living environment. The organisation began as a safe haven to address the link between space and societal transitions, aimed at fostering a futureproof design practice, commissioning and building culture.

It has now become evident that the transformation of our streets, neighbourhoods, and landscapes is both a prerequisite and a lever for achieving societal goals in synergy. Yet we observe that these transformations remain difficult to imagine and implement. They span so many sectors and involve so many actors that responsibility falls on everyone, and therefore, ultimately, on no one.

That is why we make it our mission to create the space that connects them. And with this refined mission comes a new name: WORKROOM, House for transformation. WORKROOM is the shared space where the future of our living environment is not only imagined but also organised.

We are currently taking the lead on three mission-driven transformations:

SOCIETAL INCUBATORS - By 2030, stakeholders from the youth, culture, sports, care and education sectors will join forces to create renewed societal spaces that tackle loneliness and counteract the fragmentation and pressure on public infrastructure.
FOSSIL-FREE NEIGHBOURHOODS - By 2030, at least ten neighbourhoods will be underway with the transition to fossil-free energy in an inclusive and affordable way, with a view to completely phase-out fossil fuels by 2040.
SPONGE LANDSCAPES - By 2030, we will have achieved our water, agriculture and nature goals through a single, coherent approach at catchment area level, in which strong regional coalitions collectively enhance the landscape's sponge capacity.

To make these transformations a reality, WORKROOM works shoulder to shoulder with pioneering designers, local authorities, organisations and businesses, governments, knowledge institutions and impact investors.

Through co-creative design, we imagine shared pathways to the future in exhibitions, publications, innovation programmes and public programmes. These are the workrooms where we connect the actors capable of realising these transformations. From there, we design shared ownership and the organisational, funding and policy models that lead to real change.

The name is simpler. The stakes are higher. WORKROOM is the shared space where we tackle the social and spatial transformations that no one can achieve alone. In an era of polarisation, compartmentalisation and instability, that is perhaps the most radical thing we can do.