New times, New Heroes!

The earth is a closed system, and our stay on the Planet earth  is only temporary. The climate crisis is confronting current societies with radical transformations with tangible and non-tangible consequences in all aspects of life; from the social, the economic, the cultural, the natural to the building environment. Changes, big and small, radical and modest, are needed to rethink, prepare, envisage and manage the resulting complexity of society towards sustainable and convivial survival of mankind on a thriving planet. To do this, agents are needed to be the drivers of these changes. We wish therefore to rewrite the definition of the architect to match our current challenges and become more of a changemaker.

The studio “the architect-changemaker” looks towards the pre-industrialised concept of the masterbuilder. It reflects the idea of an integral approach to architecture, embedded in local context, local materials and local craftsmanship. We are in search for a new type of architect rather than a new type of architecture. In close collaboration with the hybrid practice of BC architects & studies & materials, the student will research within the Euregio Maas-Rhine potentially circular flows, develop samples of new geo-sourced materials, design a folly with a chosen new material and finally develop a larger narrative and prototype it on scale 1:1 within a workshop setting. 

introduction: Tuesday 11th October 10h30 at aob chair / Reiff