Tom Leenders – People – Architecture Workroom Brussels

About

Collaborator

Tom Leenders

Tom Leenders (he/him) developed through diverse experiences (government, academic, private, foreign) a sensitivity to the terms used to talk about the transformation and complexity of the spatial environment. To make such topics negotiable for a multitude of actors, it is necessary to fully validate their diversity and specificity and to find a common language that allows knowledge sharing and mutual understanding. So never just say ‘it's too complicated’.

At Workroom, Tom has been focusing on the transition agenda at the local, neighbourhood level since late 2024. Both in the 100 Neighbourhoods Platform and in the Muide Meulestede Fossil-Free Living Lab, he acts as a facilitator, driving forward collaboration, insight and innovation from content.

Tom studied architecture (UGent) and urban planning (UGent and KULeuven) and previously worked, among others, for Maxwan, Tractebel, VVOB, Stad Antwerpen, ORG, … and in a non-professional context he is also an advocate of a sustainable lifestyle and more sustainable mobility. He also works as a practice assistant at the architecture department (UGent).

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.