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Doors of Perception - can a detail save the world

Doors of Perception: Can a Detail Save the World?

Instructor(s):
Tomas Ooms

Engagement:
Craftsmanship

Location:
Campus Gent

Language:
English

Semester:
Semester 1, Fall 2025

Description:

This studio begins with a single architectural detail in a fairly recent building. Through careful observation, modeling, and drawing, students will explore the potential of reusability, storage, and civic impact. The studio focuses on transforming underused or vacant buildings into vibrant civic spaces, using architectural details as catalysts for spatial and social change.

Students will work on a site in Gent or Brussels, engaging with the existing built environment to imagine new futures through adaptive reuse. The studio emphasizes craftsmanship, iterative design, and collective inquiry, culminating in the creation of a new architectural detail that reflects the building’s transformation.

Line of Inquiry:
Material Reality / Working With

Topic, Thematic Focus:
Adaptive reuse
Architectural detailing
Civic space design
Urban mining
Circular economy
Material banks
Vacant buildings as spatial resources

Key Questions or Provocations:
What is the civic potential of underused or fairly recent buildings?
How can a single detail reveal the spatial and material logic of a building?
Can architectural details drive urban transformation?
How can reuse and reusability shape design decisions and civic impact?

Methodologies or Formats:
Detail observation and analysis
Architectural modeling and drawing
Site visits and excursions
Collective research and discussion
Iterative design development

Design / Expected Outcome(s):
Students will develop a design proposal for a civic space based on the transformation of an existing building. The project will center on architectural details as tools for reuse and civic engagement. Outcomes include a new architectural detail, spatial interventions, and a reimagined civic program.

Deliverables:
A3 Leporello booklet and a series of models containing a.o.:
Analytical drawings and sections
Detail studies and prototypes
Visual documentation of process and outcome…

  • Find the full studio brief as pdf here.
  • Find the ASSEMBLEA presentations here.

Doors of Perceptions ASSEMBLEA presentation

Please find here the presentation as seen on the ASSEMBLEA: link

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