Jonge makers denkers dromers . UR Architects

For two seasons deSingel and the VAi (Flemish Architecture Institute) are offering eight young architectural firms a platform on which to present their ideas on architecture, urban planning and landscape design. The architects have been commissioned to provide solutions to pressing social issues and intellectually challenging questions in the course of the design process. Open Wed > Zon, 2 > 6 pm and with performances (7 > 11 pm) Closed Mon, Tue and holidays UR Architects study the infrastructure problems of care institutions. The trend towards increasingly involving psychiatric patients in the life of society and giving them ambulant care has consequences for care institution buildings and their grounds. Many of these care institutions - usually in the hands of religious orders - are now past their best. What has to be done with these historical buildings? Could other occupants or ex-patients live here in attractive contemporary architecture? There is often deadlock between the uncompromising attitude of the department for the preservation of monuments and the radical renewal required by the care sector. In this design-based research, UR Architects will develop a vision that could be relevant in many areas, on the basis of a care institution run by the Brothers of Charity in Beernem. In addition to an analysis of visual quality, the architects are examining its capacity for and adaptability to new forms of habitation.