transformation

societal incubators

By 2030, stakeholders from the youth, culture, care, sport and education sectors will join forces to create spaces of multifaceted social importance that structurally tackle loneliness, fragmentation and pressure on public property.

Outdated, single-purpose community buildings, such as religious buildings, sports halls or schools, will be transformed into meeting places where different groups and programmes come together. By basing the programming on local needs – rather than merely financial and technical preconditions – and by pooling resources, capacity and funds, the public built heritage fulfils its core mission: organising basic social services and providing space for experimentation.
Learning Environment Societal Infrastructure: closing session Drawing on the publication "Negen Sleutels voor toekomstgerichte maatschappelijke infrastructuur" (Nine Keys to Future-Oriented Social Infrastructure), the closing session of the Learning Environment also looked ahead: what steps can we take from tomorrow onwards to set in motion the transformation of our social housing stock? 
Learning Environment Societal Infrastructure: design session at Zinneke Within the Learning Platform Societal Infrastructures, a series of working sessions over the past year has explored how to move from shared analysis to practical building blocks for place-based, cross-sectoral societal infrastructures. Five key components have been identified for further development: (1) new roles, tasks, and methods for creating and managing intersectoral infrastructures; (2) governance and collaboration models for multi-actor programmes; (3) spatial configurations that enable collaboration and shared use; (4) sustainable financial models; and (5) supralocal intersectoral cooperation and policy innovations to scale these infrastructures.
Nine Keys for Future-oriented Societal Infrastructures Drawing on insights from the Learning Environment Societal Infrastructure, this publication explores how we can reinvent our public heritage as shared facilities serving multiple functions and communities, using a framework comprising nine keys and dozens of building blocks.
Learning Environment Societal Infrastructure To move from case-by-case solutions toward a broader, systemic understanding of societal infrastructure, one that transcends sectoral logics and contributes to major societal transitions, a series of fictional stories, based case studies has been developed. These explore emerging models of societal infrastructure, addressing recurring challenges such as fragile funding, outdated buildings, and fragmented governance. From adaptive reuse of religious heritage to multifunctional neighbourhood and care-oriented spaces, these fictional prototypes have guided conversations with mid-field organizations and policy actors to explore potential solutions.
Broedplekken voor Brussel
Broedplekken landscape drawing A first testing ground was established in Brussels through the Breeding Places call launched by the Flemish Government. Unlike more traditional, program-specific building types, Breeding Places represent a new kind of societal infrastructure, defined by their intentional openness and adaptability. Through a matchmaking platform connecting available spaces with local initiatives, twelve Breeding Places experimented with new spatial configurations, collaborative models, and shared forms of space management.
Studio Stadhuis Leuven Historic public buildings, such as town halls, have long been at the heart of community life. Yet in an era of globalization and digitalization, these spaces must reinvent themselves to remain relevant to contemporary society. Through our Living Lab Studio Stadshuis Leuven, the keys of the historic Town Hall were given to a group of young people to explore new ways of activating the space around their aspirations and interests. This experiment gave rise to the Future Fusion festival. 
Future Generations Lab, Board x Board meeting, 16 februari 2024, Studio Stadhuis Leuven (c) Diederik Craps
Future Generations Lab, Future Fusion, 16 maart 2024, Stadhuis Leuven (c) Diederik Craps
Three goals for Breeding Places in Brussels
Utrecht: the healthy city 2016 IABR atelier exhibition From Cure to Care – Transitions in the Healthy City of Utrecht at the 2016 IABR atelier
Multifunctional use of space for VGC community centres The ambition for cross-sectoral collaboration and shared use of societal infrastructure is increasingly on the agenda of public authorities. In collaboration with VGC, an exploratory trajectory was developed to envision the role of their extensive network of community centres in Brussels, in a rapidly changing society, and to explore how these societal infrastructures can be reinvented for contemporary needs.
From Cure to Care - Transitions in the Healthy City of Utrecht Focusing on care-related societal infrastructure, the publication From Cure to Care – Transitions in the Healthy City of Utrecht explores diverse scenarios for integrating care infrastructures into urban development. Central to the study is the role of multiple stakeholders, particularly the local municipality, as choreographer of cooperative urban development.
Baudelo Ghent: A spatial translation of all individual and collective needs and expectations to produce a single, coordinated programme of requirements Spatial innovation and governance are also key components of the Baudelo Ghent project. A socio-spatial study that explores the potential for shared use of a new building, its connection to the surrounding neighbourhood, and how spatial design can enable a mixed-use programme.
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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.