This project delves into the transformative potential of human-centric architecture as a catalyst for social connection, urban revitalization, and empowerment in the neighborhood of Droixhe in Liège, Belgium. Drawing inspiration from the collective Les Amis de L'Étang, comprising 15 social organizations, the research explores the concealed narratives behind facades and the daily lives of the communities residing in the neighborhood. Uncovering a pressing need for suitable spaces and housing tailored to the requirements of marginalized women and poorly represented social organizations within the modernistic ensemble of Droixhe, the site specific project proposes a women's house as a multi-functional complex, re-interpreting the role of the public, communal and domestic space. Aiming to promote social safety and empowerment for women, the project at the same time revitalizes and enhances the neighborhood through its public functions, with it's community kitchen as main urban connector. By transcending conventional design paradigms and activating curiosity through architecture, this proposal seeks to invigorate Droixhe, forging a vibrant, inclusive living environment that empowers its inhabitants.

This graduation work serves as an academic documentation of my graduation project within the Urban architecture studio, black hill city. The project aims to investigate and implement architectural interventions to transform the urban structure of the Belgian city of Liége. By focusing on innovative design strategies rather than large-scale urban interventions. More specified to this research. This project focusses on the different senses in architecture and the connection between architecture and urbanism by integrating these different senses in the design.

‘Design with (addiction) Care’ is a reflection on the role of an architect within the humanization of addiction care, primarily the design of the typology of a hostel. It is deeply rooted in the studio theme of the scarred city, where both the vulnerable scarred urban tissue as well as vulnerable people demand careful architectural reasoning. The thesis combines several methods to obtain an understanding of how architectural decision-making affects the use and experience of buildings over time. Concomitantly it examines how the perspectives of different stakeholders influence the design process. Analyzing the perspectives of architects, residents, managers, social workers, directors, local residents, professors and municipalities has contributed to a reflection on an architect's challenges, limitations and possibilities within our multidisciplinary profession.

Theatrum mundi and the idea of ‘the city as a stage’ is the foundation of this research. It configures the our area of interest within the realms of stages, sets, scenes and backstages by defining their interrelations and metaphorical exchanges within the spaces in a city. The approach analysis and defines application backstages on architectural design and sheds light on the current conditions of the backstage. The research reveals the material, immaterial, spatial and ecological conditions of such workspaces that aid in cultural production. The study of landbouwbelang as a backstage displays its uniqueness as a case study and by use architectural drawings these leanings further validates the design approach towards domestication of existing infrastructure towards appropriability for a production environment. Additionally, it showcases cultural production as a new kind of performance, that in the design is further staged. Inspired by the set designs of the movie dogville(year), the methodology suppresses the curtains and reveals the working and organism-istic nature of cultural production. Domestication and appropriation is not a static phenomenon.. Hence, the methodology needed to be something that explains the mutating phenomenon. Inspired from the movie dogville, where the the ideas about set and props has been taken to a new dimension. In a way the approach with the markings and layer of imagination, it lead to me answer my questions and reveal the backstage at the same time. For he viewer to understand the variations, shaping of spaces and domestication of existing built fabrics. Landbouwbeland is a labyrinth and one loses the idea of space, and orientation within it, hence the final product will showcase the labyrinthic nature of landbouwbelang, this learning is transferred into the design, through fixed directional markers that align with the spine of the functions. By allowing the domesticity into the production space, it was suggested, there is a greater possibility for a fluid relationship between individual and group practice, unlike the formalized spatial and temporal structure of the rehearsal which brings individual practitioners together at a set time and for a specific purpose.

Unappreciated by the public, and ambiguous with its history, Brutalism has its followers, among designers and architects yet it is still a stylistic outcast. La tour de Droixhe, the high-rise at hand, thus, is seen not only as heritage but also as a lonely giant towering over the city of Liège, Belgium. This brutalist social housing development presents itself as an example of many other similar cases across Europe where brutalist buildings are met with discontent from the public and with growing mismanagement, they often face a certain demolition, therefore this project explored both within design and programme why should we save ugly buildings and how to change their fate. Taking on the original message of brutalism as an ethical approach, the project brings in the possibilities of enhancing social cohesion in the case of high-rise housing. Answering the challenges that living off-the-ground creates through designing clusters within the tower working on the premise of cooperative living. Humanising brutalism and reclaiming its aesthetics as unique and worth building on and upon.

The street is perhaps the most prosaic of the city’s public realm, allowing us to view the very ordinary practices of life and livelihood – a space to move or pause, to meet friends, post a letter, to buy goods and is composed of an amalgamation of rooms along it. Due to the possibility of maneuvering, it tends to exhibit the external spatial reinforcements taken to mark a person’s position. This makes a street not a linear study but a system of social and spatial labyrinths. Hence, the street gives a peek at not only what was and what is, but also the lived realities of allegiance and participation by understanding the social and cultural formations occurring within itself. This is observed by unfolding the street to understand the levels of interactions (or scenes) within the layers between the building and street. The thesis focuses on the field between architecture and urbanism, on the domain between public and private. It is an attempt to bring an interactive notion to ‘street’ and its role in the design of urban areas and smaller architecture projects. It aims to reinforce the quality of open space within and between the built structures and the existing corridors by blurring the borders of inside and outside.

The goal of this research is to create a new understanding of the individuality of the city of Liége, by constructing a “logic of architecture”, a logic rooted in place, through a personal (dynamic) understanding of the site and its people & positioned within architectural theory, presenting a new interpretation. Hence, the design acts as a testsite for the research: testing, validating and showcasing the newfound “logic of architecture”, which is a product of the research process. The research strives to define three key elements (window, entrance, structure) within their autonomous reading as well as the part they play in the social ecology of Bressoux, thereby creating ground for the elements to propose design solutions based on the way they invite human life into their consciousness. Researching construction of the city over time through ordinary elements that give meaning to the city.

Liège with its post-industrial identity has a long history as an important manufacturing center in Europe for steel making and coal mining. However, the segregation between production and the city, has made the industry detached from the urban condition and the everyday life. Today, whilst new urban productive typologies were spotted in Liège that offered chances for hybrid and innovative making, manufacturing found its root to thrive in the city – and this is what we identified – a new industrial urbanism. “A good city has industry.” This design project argues that industry should be part of the city. It aims to develop a new factory type with the involvement of human scale and everyday life in the current urban setting to eliminate segregation between human and machines, and thus suggests a mixed-use program with a focus of work and production. So, how can production be visible and fit into the city? The design approach is to go hybrid, to combine production and consumption activities, and to have a closer loop from producers to consumers. The project hopes to achieve a productive co-existence of different functions within a building. Today’s concerns are not only about how to design a factory building working efficiently as a machine, but also the social aspect of a factory, for example, the human factors which guide the spatial design for circulation and interactions for the workers, neighbors and commuters. “Made in Liège”, the project is strategically located next to the Bressoux train station entrance area, at the intersection of the railway and a bridge, thereby forming an important urban transition between the industrial area of Droixhe and the neighborhood of Bressoux. Having a long and linear shape in connection with an existing bridge, the building is almost like a train with many carriages, which you can enter separately, and they have their own identity but still be able to work together. In different carriages, it responds to different researched aspects (productive urbanism, working environment, social interactions) under the topic “Human & Machine”. When different cabinets come together, it becomes a mini city in one building.

The post-war architectural and urban design paradigm’s characteristic trait of spatial and functional determination limits the possibility for spatial adaptation and flexibility in urban spaces, struggling to face ever-steadily occurring social, economic, and climate challenges. In Droixhe - the largest post-war social housing ensemble in Liège, Belgium, the ineffective reach of previously executed housing requalification and increasing mismanagement overlook the urban public space on the housing blocks’ ground level, leading to its progressive deterioration and alienating fixed spatial ambience. Drawing from the assemblage thinking theory in urban design and the notion of non-static built environments, the thesis project ‘Re:/Dis:/Assembling Droixhe’ incorporates architectural and urban design interventions within the ensemble’s urban ground level, allowing for ever-evolving compositions of elements with changing interrelationships, while challenging the pre-existing Modernist static built entities. Underlining the notion of “the incomplete”, the established design framework suggests the (re-)evaluation and upgrade of existing compositions through flexible building elements, which create the possibility to be critically reviewed and eventually recalibrated over time in response to occurring challenges. Applying a holistic multi-method approach, this design research aims to unveil the potential and challenges of urban transformation in static post-war urban environments as a point of departure to a more community-engaging and environmentally conscious architectural practice.

The indispensable relationship between city and economy often remains incomprehensible and rather conceptual, as they do not meet in a concrete environment. In the most general sense, the economy represents production and consumption activities in which urban residents participate, yet there is no tangible space in cities where this relationship is physically exhibited and witnessed. The reason being that the industry though a keystone of the economy, has not survived the evolution of the urban tissue, resulting in the consequent lack of synergy between humans and the act of production. Etymologically, the term industry appears as a synonym of ‘diligence’ and ‘hard work’ which allusively refers to that of humans. Though throughout the years the word represented the means of production, this is now out of sight. Production, once indispensable to human existence and the urban tissue, is no longer a part of everyday life. The functioning of the machines led to pollution and inadequate sources, while the industry needed bigger and cheaper lands which were hard to possess within the dense city center. This ever-changing dynamic resulted in the subsequent isolation of industry and production to the outskirts; resulting in segregated urban planning where it was not possible to witness the act of making. Production is an everyday actor which plays a vital role in the urban flow. Gleaning the industry, collecting and giving it a new meaning, can reintroduce this everyday forgotten existence of production to its city. This way, production would not only represent the economy but also become an urban catalyst to evoke new possible interactions such as the sense of collectiveness. This collectiveness is provided by the ever-changing urban dynamics and; as a result, by a new understanding of urban culture. This approach offers shared urban spaces for different types of users, urban residents, makers, manufacturers, and workers. After having been pushed away for years, the industry is now ready to be celebrated, offering unconventional perspectives for new urban and architectural explorations. By enabling many dualities such as humans and machines, contextuality and universality, etc. to exist together, it intends to form a more homogenous urban atmosphere.

This year's urban architecture graduation studio proposes a site specific approach within the district of Bressoux, on the fringe of the city of Liège. Seeking for opportunities in the working class district, after the industry has left the stage, a courtyard on a corner is found. Behind the perimeter wall, basic necessities for those in need are taken care of. A food bank, a restaurant, a social desk, a shower. The project proposes to rethink the collection of functions by adapting the existing masonry structures through carving & grafting. Opening and adding, allowing for new ways of occupation. And then to add something new to the table. Opening the gate for 24h and introducing a shelter and transit home, offering a bed during the night. Scenographic models and drawings are used to design and represent the spaces of the courtyard, as well as the objects & life within them. 

This project focuses on sound in architecture and the urban environment. The location of this project is Friche Josaphat, a green and biodiverse area located in Brussels. Being a void over the last years, this place changed into a biodiverse landscape. The main question of this research is: what is the sound of the Friche? By listening and analyzing these sounds through making music, information about the context of the building site is gained. A sonic plan is made which serves as a base for the landscape design. A Sonic & sculpture park has been designed where the sounds of the Friche will be emphasized through adding more diversity in the landscape of the Friche and adding sculptures, sound art and places to listen to the sounds. The visitors center that is designed is one of the two entrances to this park. This building creates a gradient in sound from the urban environment of brussels to the park and introduces the visitor to sounds. The building also shows a gradient of materiality from urban to green. The visitors center is an educational place for people from the neighbourhood and contains a café and exhibition about sounds and green. After designing the building a new sonic plan is made, but then on building scale. Music is composed to emphasize the different atmospheres in the building.

The research of the relationship between a traveling theatre and it's context on an abandoned rail yard in Brussels, followed by the proposal of an urban plan and new theatre building ensemble at the site entrance.