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PRACTICES IN RESEARCH #06 practice-based research conference
C I.II.III.IV. A (rue de l'Ermitage, 55 - Brussels)
10:00    sessions 1, 2 & 3 
11:40    sessions 4, 5 & 6 
15:00    sessions 7, 8 & 9
17:00    plenary session

Editor in chief and Associate Editor
Harold Fallon (AgwA, KU Leuven), Tomas Ooms (Studio Tuin en Wereld, KU Leuven)

Editorial Board
Martina Barcelloni Corte (ULiège), Benoît Burquel (AgwA, ULB), Elodie Degavre (UCLouvain), Christine Fontaine (UCLouvain), Juliane Greb (Büro Juliane Greb, UAntwerpen), Tine Segers (UAntwerpen), Wouter Van Acker (ULB) , Benoît Vandenbulcke (AgwA, ULiège)

Editorial Coordinator 
Louise Meersseman (AgwA)

19:00    Lecture by Aliki Loïzidis (L’Equipe) and Véronique Patteeuw (ENSA Lille)
             Free entry - registration via https://civa.pierrot.io/talk-in-practice or https://www.civa.brussels/

supported by : ULB, KU Leuven, ULiège, UCLouvain, UAntwerpen, CIVA, FNRS, As Found Scientific Research Network

Deadline 28 February 2025

"In the pursuit of an actual and pertinent attitude, architects are increasingly committed to working with the materials and structures that already exist. This practice—rooted in re-use, reclamation, harvesting, and urban mining—challenges architects to embrace the unpredictability of what is available. Whether reimagining a structure or harvesting materials from demolition sites, they must navigate fluctuating quantities, variable qualities, and unexpected dimensions, colors, textures, and technical performance.

(...)

How do architects thrive in this space of uncertainty? What instruments, methods, and processes enable them to work creatively within the flux of material availability? How do they reframe constraints—such as limited supply or inconsistent quality—not as barriers but as opportunities to uncover unexpected potential in existing resources? And what new aesthetics and spatial practices emerge when beauty is no longer defined by precision or uniformity, but by adaptability and responsiveness?

(...)

Submissions should reflect on these critical practices through concrete examples, staying close to the methods, documents, and outcomes of this work, with a clear focus on the observational, explorative and creative media nourishing the practice. Contributions can range from case studies and reflective essays to visual narratives and experimental documentation."

Short abstracts to be submitted before the 28th of February 2025.

The Practices In Research journal has recently be listed by the Association of Flemish Academic Publishers (VABB) as a peer reviewed academic publication.

https://www.ecoom.be/en/vabb-shw/journal-list-cumulative

We are very pleased by this official recognition, conferring a high-standard academic value to all published articles.

PRACTICES IN RESEARCH #04 practice-based research seminar
09:30    sessions 1 & 2 - C I.II.III.IV. A (rue de l'Ermitage, 55 - Brussels)
14:00    session 3 - ULB La Cambre Horta (place Eugène Flagey 19 - Brussels)
16:30    AUDIENCES - round table and closing session

scientific committee : Cédric Libert (ENSASE), Emilie Morales (Morales Finch, ULB), Juliane Grebb (Büro Juliane Greb, UAntwerpen), Wouter Van Acker (ULB), Christine Fontaine (ZED Architects, UCLouvain), Johan Dewalsche (UAntwerpen), Martina Barcelloni Corte (ULiège), Martin Outers (Matador, UCLouvain), Virginie Pigeon (Pigeon Ochej Paysage, ULiège), Karen Kesteloot (Studiobont, KU Leuven), Nikolaus Hirsch (CI.II.III.IV.A)

18:30    Booklaunch of "DYVIK KAHLEN IN PRACTICE, Villa RuBa"
             Max Kahlen and Christopher Dyvik, discussion with Pieterjan Ginckels

             Lecture by AURELIE HACHEZ & JULIEN BOIDOT

free entry - registration info@architectureinpractice.eu
organizing committee : B. Burquel, H. Fallon, B. Vandenbulcke
supported by : ULB, KU Leuven, ULiège, UCLouvain, UAntwerpen, CIVA, Flanders State of The Art, FNRS

The LucAs Architecturebook #5 booklaunch will take place on the 22nd of February 2023 at the Sint Lucas Faculty of Architecture, in Brussels. 

Book presentation by Sophie Laenen. Conversation with Dirk Jaspaert, Jolien Naeyaert, Bart Hollanders and Gosia Olchowska, moderated by Harold Fallon. 

'Changing Tempo', The third and final REAL LIFE talk has taken place on the 8th of December. The talk was part of a larger series about the building-specific and technical challenges of renovation. It was organized by BMA (the Brussels Master Architect), CIVA and KU Leuven (Harold Fallon & Sophie Laenen).

Guests: Chloe Ballyn (BC Architects), Andrei Miulescu (Pierre Blondel Architectes), Laura Baïwir (Le Logement Molenbeekois), Dorien Robben (SLRB), Alexa Guffens (Urban), Michael Govaert (BE), Jeroen Kessels (Renotec)

©Photograph by Séverin Malaud

"What do architects do for free, which is not asked for explicitly? What drives them beyond the expectations inherent to their mandate? What is the motivation of their work? Which implicit or explicit duties?? Dispositions and inclinations in their designing? Reflections and inspirations that feed their design practice? This space beyond the mandate, the freedom or the unexpectedness in responding to the expectations, is what moves any reflective or inquisitive practice.

(...)

PiR 04 – “Beyond the Mandate” is looking for contributions exploring this field of motivations which nourish the freedom of proposition. The contributions are expected to investigate this space while staying close to the practice, its documents and outcomes."

Short abstracts to be submitted before the 2nd of December 2022.

After three years of activities and in the aftermath of the Practices in Research Conference held in October 2021, three successful conferences and three issues of the Practices in Research journal (published in 2020, 2021 and 2022), it was decided to make work of broadening the base and academic community of the research group.

In this perspective, an application for a “contact group” was submitted to the FNRS in Belgium (Fonds National pour la Recherche Scientifique, Fund for Scientific Research). A contact group, which may be disciplinary or interdisciplinary, and which allows a group of researchers to meet at regular intervals during seminars. The application was successful, meaning that future issues of the journal and the organization of future conferences will be the fruit of a collective reflection by professors, architects, teachers and researchers from ULiège, ULB, UCLouvain, KU Leuven and UAntwerpen.

Members of the contact group :

Benoit Vandenbulcke (President of the contact group, ULiège), Wouter Van Acker (secretary of the contact group, ULB), Éric Le Coguiec (ULiège), Martina Barcelloni Corte (ULiège), Harold Fallon (KU Leuven), Rolf Hughes (KU Leuven), Karen Kesteloot (KU Leuven), Benoit Burquel (ULB), Émilie Morales (ULB), Johan De Walsche (UAntwerpen), Juliane Greb (UAntwerpen), Wannes Peeters (UAntwerpen), Christine Fontaine (UCLouvain), Martin Outers (UCLouvain)

The objective is to further strengthen and precise the research group’s epistemological foundations of activities, and to further develop the role of the group as an exchange platform for practicing architects with different research and practice backgrounds.

The second REAL LIFE talk, part of a larger series about the building-specific and technical challenges of renovation, and organized by BMA (the Brussels Master Architect), CIVA and KU Leuven (Harold Fallon & Sophie Laenen), will be taking place on the 22nd of September. 
Moderator : Nathanaëllel Baës-Cantillon (Grue)
Invitees: Nicolas Willemet (VVV) – Thomas Rigby (Czvek Rigby) – Jeanne Mosseray (Cosmopolis)
 

On the 23rd of June, Harold Fallon will be hosting a debate with Archipelago, OFFICEU, Karbon and Ceraa asbl about the building-specific and technical challenges of renovation, as part of a series of talks organized by C.I.II.III.IV.A on the transformation of social housing built in the XXth century.