Event

To mark the release of The Architecture of Reuse, the BMA is presenting four exemplary projects from the Brussels region, with contributions from architects Steven Schenk (Schenk Hattori Architecture Atelier), Jean Garcin (Karbon’), Olivia Noel (RotorDC), and Olivier Cavens (51N4E).

Karbon’ will showcase the Général Jacques project and explore how it was developed with a focus on the careful preservation of the existing structure and the reuse process.

How can architecture promote social inclusion by ensuring safety and accessibility? Can multi-programmed architecture  and careful integration into the pre-existing urban fabric change the way we look at the city?

Perspective engages in a reflection on Brussels' urban planning through the lens of gender, initiating a gender mainstreaming strategy within its missions. The goal is to integrate gender-differentiated realities and experiences into planning tools and urban policies, expanding access to the city's resources and spaces.

The 20th century was marked by major upheavals on historical, cultural, and technical fronts. Architecture from this period stands out for its diverse styles and construction techniques, which, driven by the rapid evolution of architectural theories, were sometimes experimental and innovative. Often poorly understood and difficult to restore or renovate, this architecture sometimes leads urban planners to opt for overly drastic transformations of this heritage, which is as significant as any other.

One project, two (or more) perspectives

The Karbon’ cooperative is pleased to invite you to its open weekend on the 21st and 22nd of October 2022.

A chance to meet the team and discuss the issues that drive us.

By measuring the environmental impasse with which our world is confronted, this exhibition intends to provoke a reflection - both retrospective and prospective - on the close link between these two twin disciplines, agriculture and architecture, and on their growing divorce since the industrial revolution. It aims to learn from agronomists, activists and planners who have been thinking about the hypothesis of an energetic degrowth as well as about the recomposition and perpetuation of living territories.

What's Already There approaches the question of sustainable architecture through six Brussels projects, ranging from the detached house to the cultural facility.

The exhibition was curated by Pauline Lefebvre and Thomas Vilquin (ULB) and presented in Washington (National Building Museum). It notably features the Vignette project, which incorporates themes of timber construction, second-hand materials (reclaimed brick facades), and biobased materials (straw and hemp-lime).

Converging views of Jean Souviron who will discuss the environmental history of insulating glazing, Géry Leloutre and Alessandro Pontara who will present their implementation of biobased materials and general reduction of the building’s grey energy. Together with Emilie Gobbo, they will debate on sustainable construction, beyond passive architecture, and discuss construction waste as a design matter.