A Shelter of Reciprocity
Instructor(s):
Nele Stragier
Engagement:
Craftsmanship
Location:
Brussels
Language/Taal:
English
Semester:
Semester 1, Fall 2025
Description/Inhoud:
The studio connects to the ongoing project by artist Wouter De Raeve, which explores the role of the architect in urban development. From spring 2025 to winter 2026, he will investigate what kind of architecture emerges in the swamp of Ganshoren when the needs of the space are treated equally to those of humans.
We will inhabit the site to peer into its soul and discover what the swamp needs. Through intensive fieldwork, we will study the location, its inhabitants, and its surroundings.
‘What do we take?’ ‘What will we give back?’ to the swamp. The studio is an exchange: on the one hand, the creation of tutorial drawings and scale models for possible forms of ‘shelter’ in the broadest sense; on the other hand, a dialogue with the ongoing Construction of the Shelter and with artist Wouter De Raeve. The materials for the 1:1 interventions will come from the site itself or from reuse, and are part of the reflection on reciprocity.
Line of inquiry/Onderzoekslijn:
For Real
Topic, Thematic Focus/Thema:
Reciprocity, urban mapping and mining, reuse, 1:1 construction, working with uncertainty
Key Questions or Provocation/ Centrale vragen en provocaties:
• Could the architect, instead of being the creator of space, act as the mediator between space and human? What kind of architecture would emerge from this?
• What does the Shelter need or wish to ‘receive’ from the swamp? What can the Shelter then ‘give back’ to the swamp? How can building become a form of mutual exchange?
• Could the act of building — the core of architectural methodology — be reinterpreted as a reciprocal practice?
Methodologies or Formats / Methodologie:
Fieldwork, user observations, mapping, iterative modeling, material research, co-create, construction on site, documentation of process and outcome
Design / Expected Outcome(s) / Ontwerp / Verwachte Resultaten:
Ongoing reflection on content with output forming part of the design process from start to end presentation. A personal visual and material approach is developed to support a sharp and coherent vision, where content and form are closely aligned. Media may vary from text, drawings, model, and video to performance. Development of spatial interventions and 1:1 constructions, using recovered or found materials.
Deliverables / In te dienen documenten:
Booklet, drawings, models, prototype, on-site intervention
- Find the full studio brief as pdf here.
Photo: A Shelter of Reciprocity, Wouter De Raeve