Project

Operation Energy Neighbourhoods: A small exhibition and programme for a great transformation

What do you see in this picture: cobblestones, a pink children’s bike, or just another residential street? Now, take a closer look at the houses in the background. The one on the right stands out, a symbol of sustainability amid the weathered walls of tradition. And you are right to notice. It is a striking image of the way we try to realise the energy transition in our neighbourhoods today. The owner of this house insulated the roof and the façades, replaced the old windows by double-glazed ones, and installed a heat pump. But here is the catch: that owner is one of the lucky few. The transformation is unfolding house per house, progressing slowly and leaving many households behind.  

To achieve a fossil fuel-free society by 2050, we need to renovate 95,000 homes every year – that's 11 homes every hour. Yet, the house-per-house approach fails to meet these ambitious goals. Realising the energy transition collectively is more cost- and material-efficient, benefits both higher- and lower-income households alike, and enables us to combine multiple processes and technical solutions simultaneously: that is the promise of the neighbourhood approach. 

Operation Energy Neighbourhoods leads you from promise to practice. Our small exhibition brings together the work-in-progress of pioneers committed to the energy transition in our neighbourhoods, and formulates and connects the fields of action to improve and accelerate. Throughout our public programme of workshops and debates in the space, you are invited to reflect and collaborate with other stakeholders on the fields of action that add up to an integrated neighbourhood approach.  

Operation Energy Neighbourhoods is the first edition in a series of ‘open workrooms’ organised by Architecture Workroom Brussels. From late 2024 to late 2026, we are opening our doors to support the cities, experts, designers, businesses and policymakers working on the strategic transformations that we, as an organisation, are committed to: energy neighbourhoods, sponge landscapes, and societal infrastructure. Each of these tracks features a public programme and a small exhibition, contributing to a great transformation.


VISIT THE EXHIBITION

Free individual visits every Thursday from 9 January until 27 February 2025 (10:00-20:00), no registration needed. Guided tours on demand (via this form).

Adress: Pachecolaan 34 (6th floor), 1000 Brussels


PUBLIC PROGRAMME

- Opening Night Operation Energy Neighbourhoods (Wednesday, 11 December 2024)

- The Energy Company 2.0: A Public-Private-Civic Collaboration (Thursday, 12 December 2024)

- Measuring the temperature: Architecture and regulation for new climate regimes (Thursday, 6 February 2025)

- Everyone on board: A collective renovation programme (Thursday, 20 February 2025)

- One step at a time: An integrated action plan for every neighbourhood ​(Thursday, 27 February 2025)

- Towards an operation: A supra-local framework for energy neighbourhoods (date to be confirmed)

More information and registrations via our agenda.

 

Delve into the operation through our visitors' guide.

Objects
Operatie Energiewijken (NL) 83 MB
Opération Quartiers d'Énergie 83 MB
EN FR NL
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.