Project

Atelier Eurometropolis

International experts were invited to a prospective atelier to participate in discussions and design sessions with the aim of developing new ideas and concepts, which could provide a solution to the major challenges facing the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Eurometropolis. Architecture Workroom Brussels organised and moderated the workshop.

 

To create a dynamic working atmosphere and to stimulate the productive exchange of knowledge of the field and external views, the international experts Mark Brearley (London, UK), Ido Avissar (Paris, FR) and Thomas Sieverts (Munich, DE) were confronted with local and regional experts. During the two-day workshop, research by design was one of the methods used for exchanging and visualising ideas. Discussions were organised around maps of the area that spatially localised the challenges on the ground.

The overarching focus of the two-day atelier was the green-blue network, open space as a whole, nature and waterways, which unite the Eurometropolis across the borders of the three regions. Three approaches provided structure for the atelier:

1. Next economy
The atelier consisted of two economic trains of thought. On the one hand we posed the question of how the importance of the blue network and the impact on it from the new Seine-North Canal could act as a lever for economic development. And how the development of a creative industry could take place at key locations, linked to this blue network, on the other.

2. Productive landscape
Could we develop trains of thought from the close relationship of agri-food activities and the secondary hydrological network to achieve a more resilient and more integrated system, based on innovative practices?

3. Diffuse city
The atelier's ambition was to outline development scenarios, which could result in a more coherent system that connects infrastructure, places of employment, places of knowledge creation and the active population.

Type: Atelier

Related Projects
2013: Eurometropolis Blue Space
Related Transformations
All Transformations

Operation Open Space 2.0

Open space is vitally important. We need open space to safeguard our food supply and biodiversity. The open space also provides our urban society with many other services. It mitigates the effects of climate change, has a cooling function, offers buffer capacity for water shortages or excesses and is needed to generate renewable energy. What’s more, the open space affords us moments of calm, silence and experiential aspects that serve as an essential counterweight to hectic urban living. Over the course of the past century, the open space has been under pressure. We are increasingly eroding the open space for additional urbanisation, for living and working, for recreation or infrastructure. Open space has become a scarce commodity. In Flanders, seven hectares (or ten football pitches) of open space disappear every day. Despite the ‘concrete stop’ – or ‘construction shift’ – announced in the Spatial Policy Plan for Flanders, we continue to swiftly devour the open space.  → more

A Good City Has Industry

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WORKROOM

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.