UR architects

UR stands for Utopia Revisited, named after their prizewinning design for Europan 6 in Lelystad. On the basis of their interest in the utopian or dystopian background of the location, Nikolaas Vande Keere and Regis Verplaetse carried out design-based research into the suburban reality of the new Dutch town of Lelystad and the history of mental healthcare institutions. Rather than aiming for a snapshot of the current situation, UR Architects wants to use it to shape a vision and stimulate debate on long-term spatial developments. They consider archtecture as by nature interdisciplinary, caught between theory and practice, and they make deliberate use of this tension. Architecture should not restrict itself to charm, but must enter into public life to the full.

Research into the material and ideological building history of a location is also the starting point of their architectural practice. UR Architects' work includes radical small to medium-sized conversions. The design is a reaction to the space encountered, with all its connotations and experiences, the result of a process which in essence cannot be repeated. So according to these architects, a project has only succeeded when it has been able to expose a hidden quality.