The Academic Design Office ‘On Continuity and Identity’ is a research & design group founded by four members of the design, construction and research departments of the Faculty of Architecture of the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL): Ignaas Back (engineer architect), Klaas Vanslembrouck (architect), Tom Callebaut (interior designer) and Hilde Bouchez (historian/anthropologist). It builds on three main pillars: -research, practise and education, which continuously infuse one another. All our projects are embedded in several ongoing educational casestudies with (interior-) architecture students, in research & building projects in Nepal, Congo and Greenland and in our own architectural practise.
Our interest in the traditional is twofold: on the one hand we consider a tradition as a treasure-box of knowledge that has been fine-tuned for many generations. It teaches us for instance how to build in a climate-adaptive way and with locally available resources and skills. Or, in more contemporary words, in a sustainable and low-tech way. On the other hand traditions are shared memories that are essential carriers of social networks and meaning. They are capable of either uniting or dividing people, of creating a feeling of belonging or xenophobia.
All over the globe, we today see a renewed interest in the traditional, the local, the handcrafted and so on. Through case-studies in several locations in Belgium -such as Ypres (the centre of the WWI-remembrance) or Bruges (the most touristic city of Belgium)- our students researched and designed different scenarios that allow traditions to maintain a meaningful role in our fast-moving world. We therefore approach the traditional in a dynamic way and through architectural designs instigate a continuity, and a contemporary relevance towards changing needs. Globilazation, urbanization, tourism,climate change, poverty, natural disasters, migration, poverty, conflict, next to new forms of knowledge transfers such as the new media threaten the often vulnerable continuity of a tradition, and even questions its relevance and legitimacy.
More recent we have broadend our scope by working in countries where the traditional is still very vital, but endangered through the above mentioned forces. In many -often developing- countries people still live a rather traditional life, which however is under heavy pressure through the drive towards a modern lifestyle. Progression is generally understood as the greatest possible resemblance to the rich West, so people rapidly abandon their traditional way of live. This often leaves them, and especially their children who no longer learn the traditional knowledge that their parents and grandparents possess naturally, with a feeling of alienation.
Building on the expertise that we acquired from our preliminary projects in Belgium, it is our aim to soften the assumed oppositions between the local, traditional, disadvantaged and the globalized, contemporary, prosperous by activating meaningful roles for the traditional in the fast process of modernization and globalization.
We therefore initiated new case-studies that will -in collaboration with local partners in the field of education, research and practise- result in actual built projects. We intend these projects to become places of knowledge transfer (not necessarily schools but rather hybrid buildings that combine functions such as a community centre, a dispensary, a school, … depending on the specific needs) that we call ‘wild’, ‘generous’, ‘engaging’ and of course ‘sustainable’.
Wild as in untamed, and still holding space for a transmission of the ancient and traditional knowledge, habits, rituals, arts, … rooted in a specific context and/or necessity and therefore authentic.
Generous through an approach that is process-based and inclusive, dynamically anticipating to a fast-changing context, with as a main aim to connect people, place, space and time.
Engaging by including elements that demand full community participation and maintenance, thus evoking social engagement, involvement, and most important local appropriation
Sustainable in a vernacular way, by translating globally available knowledge to locally available resources and skills in order to achieve low-impact, low-tech and climate-adaptive buildings.
We currently work in Nepal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Greenland. The ‘post-school’ project in Nepal will result in a new school typology of which the first prototype will soon be build. In DRC we are in the design stadium of what we call ‘des centres généreux’. On four different locations, these centres will soon be initialised and will grow over the years through a two-way process between our research group and local partners. In Greenland we are starting up a project with the Inuit people from the village of Ittoqqortoormiit.