Sofie De Caigny – författare

The pressing challenges of our time mean that designers are facing new, less familiar areas of responsibility. They are required to negotiate their way through regulations, ecological commitment, building conventions and economic constraints.

This Flanders Architectural Review N°16 shows how both designers and clients recurrently adopt a caring attitude when engaging with these challenges. This responsibility manifests itself in careful approaches to the renovation of existing structures, ecological innovations that go beyond the norm, participatory processes for collective housing, and the recognition of diversity in both society and the field of architecture. Twenty-one projects, 11 essays and six photographers not only shed light on the human, financial, material and ecological aspects of the built environment, but also explore the degree to which the decision-making processes are democratic.

With projects by &bogdan, aNNo, ATAMA, Atelier Kempe Thill, Baro Architectuur, Bovenbouw Architectuur, Bruno Spaas Architectuur, Callebaut Architecten, Caruso St John Architects, De Gouden Liniaal Architecten, De Smet Vermeulen architecten, Dierendonckblancke architecten, DDS+, ectv architecten Els Claessens Tania Vandenbussche, Havana architectuur, Karuur Architecten, Ludovic Devriendt, MADE architects, Mattias Deboutte, murmuur architecten, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, ono architectuur, Ouest Architecture, Philip Aguirre y Otegui, Raamwerk, Robbrecht en Daem architecten, Rotor, SumProject, Universal Design Studio, URA Yves Malysse Kiki Verbeeck, urbain architectencollectief, Zinneke.

Architecture today faces social upheavals that are increasingly difficult to ignore. The demand for housing, changing visions on education, the collective past, open space and new care needs are all themes that are growing more urgent by the day. The hesitant response to these issues puts the (international) success of architecture from Flanders and Brussels into perspective. 

Flanders Architectural Review N°15. Alliances with the Real brings together a rich selection of much-discussed recent projects that offer a surprising response to these challenges. Ten essays and two photo series critically reflect upon and hold up a mirror to the architectural field. Alliances with the Real calls for social engagement and social entrepreneurship from all who contribute to the (un)built environment.

With essays by Livia de Bethune, Sofie De Caigny, Maarten Desmet, Hülya Ertas, Marleen Goethals, Petrus Kemme, Marc Martens, Mark Pimlott, Martino Tattara and Kiki Verbeeck.

With photo essays by Sepideh Farvardin and Miles Fischle.

Monnikenheide in Zoersel is a residential care centre for people with mental disabilities. A special place for special people, it is examined from an architectural perspective for the first time in this book.

In the fifty-year building history of Monniken­heide, different architects have gone in search of new spatial possibilities, with inclusion as leitmotif. This has created a unique landscape that transcends the boundaries of care architecture. Monnikenheide is a powerful architectural statement about the place of people in society who depend on care.