Project

120% Brussels

Architecture Workroom Brussels organised a Master Class for forty international students in order to generate innovative ideas for Brussels' urban development. The theme was significant population growth in Brussels. By 2020, Brussels’ population is expected to increase to 120% of the 2010 figure. How could this population increase be transformed from a problem into an opportunity? Christ & Gantenbein Architects and Office KGDVS led the Master Class in 2011.

Architecture students and schools could play an important role in the urban transformation process: by conducting applied research by design they could form a source of renewal for thinking related to spatial management. Therefore, in 2011, Architecture Workroom organised an international Master Class, as an extension of the Building Brussels exhibition on the theme of Brussels’ population growth. Forty students from all over Europe reflected on how the densification of Brussels could be shaped at five sites. They used typology transfer– a method by Christ & Gantenbein Architects and the architecture school ETH Zurich – based on the critical analysis of existing qualitative residential constructions. A publication containing the results of the Master Class provides food for thought for the urban debate in the form of innovative spatial concepts.

Types: masterclass

Year: 2011

Partners: Christ & Gantenbein Architects and Office KGDVS

 

Related Projects
2010: Building for Brussels – publication
Related Projects
2010: Building for Brussels – exhibition
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The next big thing will be a lot of small things

In the Eurodelta every square meter is claimed to store water, generate energy, produce food or live. Our territory is almost built up, and at the same time it faces incredible transformations still to come. We will need a strong framework in which as strong local coalitions can take initiative. In this context the design practice takes up a facilitating role in new projects that tackle multiple challenges at the same time. New coalitions deal with legal, financial or technical obstacles. And on new platforms, many initiatives are brought together to form an ambitious movement. → more

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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.