Duration
192h Pr
Number of credits
| Master in architecture, professional focus in architecture and urban planning | 15 crédits |
Lecturer
Lisa De Visscher, Emeric Marchal, Bastien Pilet, Benoît Vandenbulcke
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
In Brussels, many office buildings constructed between the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century are already losing value on the real estate market. Some have become obsolete because they do not meet current standards (technical, energy, spatial), while others are simply redundant in a context of saturation of the tertiary sector. Although recent, these buildings are already raising the question of their conversion, in line with the logic of reusing buildings and urban transformation.
In Belgium, rather than demolishing and rebuilding, projects to transform or convert built heritage (office buildings, industrial buildings, housing, storage facilities, etc.) are multiplying. The Bouwmeesters policy certainly plays an important role in this dynamic. Since 1999 in Flanders, 2000 in Antwerp, 2009 in Brussels, 2013 in Charleroi and 2017 in Ghent, the role of bouwmeester has gradually become established in our cities and regions (with the exception of the Walloon Region).
The role originated in 1860 in the Netherlands with the 'Rijksbouwmeester', literally Master Architect of the Kingdom, whose role was limited to monitoring government projects. Today, the role of bouwmeester is evolving and varies from region to region. In Brussels, this role has existed since 2009 in the form of the Bouwmeester Master Architect (BMA), whose role is defined as follows: "The bouwmeester is responsible for supporting the government in its role as an exemplary project owner and promoting an architectural culture through competitions, awards and pilot projects."
Today, however, this role is being questioned by some politicians. This debate reveals the tensions between long-term architectural requirements and more immediate strategies. The workshop therefore invites students to question the relevance of such institutional tools, as well as the architect's responsibility in the transformation of the city.
The workshop will focus on the conversion of office buildings in Brussels into housing, with the addition of a complementary programme (cultural, associative, productive, etc.) capable of re-establishing links with the neighbourhood. The targeted buildings are poorly connected to their urban environment: isolated, single-purpose, distanced from public space. The aim will be to propose projects capable of reactivating these recent structures by introducing new forms of living and use.
The workshop will begin with a stay in Brussels, combining site visits, visits to contemporary architecture and an intensive workshop with local stakeholders. An excursion to Ghent is also planned as part of this immersion. This time on site will allow students to familiarise themselves with the challenges of the neighbourhood, the buildings concerned and the institutional framework in which they operate.
Students will then carry out on-site surveys of the selected buildings and reconstruct the existing situation as a basis for their work. The conversion project will be developed in line with a given programme, integrating spatial, structural and constructional dimensions. The study will continue to examine details, materials and technical choices in order to arrive at a comprehensive proposal that is coherent and adapted to contemporary construction requirements.
Provisional planning:
- Introduction to the studio and the theme
- Site visits and visits of recents projects of adaptative reuse
- Constitution of the existing situation (plans, sections, models) and of the research paper on the analysis of the buildings.
- first sketches: development of a project principle responding to the challenges of the building itself but also of its context.
- Intermediate presentation
- Preliminary design: project development: both from a spatial and technical point of view.
- Project: study of the project as a whole from the urban / landscape scale to technical detail
- Presentation and final jury
A detailed program will be sent to students at the start of the studio. This program will be subject to change during the year.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
By articulating theoretical knowledge, critical methods and creative and imaginative approaches, at the end of the workshop the student will demonstrate his/her competence in designing the built and non-built space in a projective and / or productive way through multi-scale architectural compositions inscribed in an environmental, historical, cultural, social, economic and political context imbedded in the adaptive reuse of an existing building. The student will have to demonstrate an understanding of the context in order to argue for sensitive, global and sustainable solutions.
The student will be able to:
- redraw the existing situation of a building in its context with a view to its transformation / reconversion.
- evaluate the heritage value of a building and detect its weaknesses and strengths with a view to its adaptation.
- understand the architectural challenges of an existing building, recognize its qualities in terms of space, structure, context, and also culture.
- measure the value of the reuse from an environmental point of view by assessing the value of the building's footprint.
- formulate a sustainable architectural response in the particular context of reconversion.
- develop a program that can fit into this building by taking advantage of its existing qualities.
- develop an architectural project responding to the situation and the program.
- offer technical and constructive solutions at detail level.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The main space for teaching is the studio: a place of individual or collective exchange between the students and the teachers, based on the students' weekly production and their pro-activity. The work is individual or in groups for some aspects. The studio organizes the learning process in a variety of ways: collective sessions, instruction or debriefing sessions, round tables allowing questions and information to be shared, one-to-one discussions based on the work of the student, presentations and collegial reviews.
In addition to the development of the projects themselves, certain other educational approaches can be organized, such as presentations during the studio, quick separated exercises, internal or external workshops, study trips, visits, external conferences, intervention of speakers at the studio; each studio session will clearly determine the compulsory or optional nature of these particular approaches in its description, as well as the methods of evaluation of these activities.
The work can be individual, in small or large groups depending on the phases and the nature of the exercise.
The students may also present their work in an exhibition, or organize presentations, writing exercises and publications, making contact with actors in the field or the general public; which will prepare them for professional life in its cultural and societal dimension.
In general, the master's studio develops pedagogies that prepare students for the current conditions of the practice of the profession of architect, by making them aware of the cultural, social, economic and environmental realities, which are now disrupting classic models and lines of reflection and action on the built environment (a need / a client / a site / a project).
The studio is part of an interuniversity collaboration between Uliège and TU Wien which aims to create exchanges between students and teachers on the theme of adaptive reuse. Joint exercises, conferences and meetings are organized between the different universities and the students. Students will have to work occasionally with students from these other universities.
The studio will develop a research-project methodology allowing students to trace the process they put in place for their project. The workshop proposes to host TFE-projects on the theme of reconversion. It is complementary to the Q4 "Iacobus" studio by C. Houbart, P. Noé and M. Frisena.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Blended learning
Additional information:
Teaching takes place mainly in person in the studio. Special learning arrangements (publication of a syllabus or various notes, distance learning, use of a specific website, comments by emails, setting up systems for the storage and collective dissemination of information and data, dissemination platforms used) will be specified at the start of the studio. One part of the studio could take place virtually through the platforms Lifesize and Miro.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Any notes recommended or compulsory readings are specified at the start of the studio.
More generally, students are encouraged to undertake their own research and to explore their curiosity (library, travel, etc.), in order to form a critical judgment.
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam AND oral exam
Further information:
The evaluation is continuous in the form of a reflective process with resource persons outside the studio and a regular evaluation between peers. Two more formal evaluations - an intermediate jury an d final jury - are organized with an external jury.
Quoting:
- Continuous evaluation : 10% of the final quote
- Intermediate jury: 30% of the final quote
- Final jury: 60% of the final quote
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
Prof. Benoît Vandenbulcke - bvandenbulcke@uliege.be
Lisa De Visscher - ldevisscher@uliege.be
Emeric Marchal - Emeric.Marchal@uliege.be
Bastien Pilet - bpilet@uliege.be