Residential estates often come in for a lot of criticism: too close together, too little differentiation, the ecological footprint is too big, etc. At the same time, their residents are experimenting with forms of collective habitation, small-scale business activities, generating renewable energy together, and so on. This exhibition, ‘Stories from the Suburbs’, makes us of these experiments to launch a broad debate on the Flemish residential estate.
The Flanders Architecture Institute and deSingel’s ‘Projections’ series provides a platform for existing research in Flanders. The common threads running through the selected projects are social themes and/or a questioning of the role of the architectural discipline in society. And ‘Stories from the Suburbs’ chimes perfectly with this. Suburban areas that have been parcelled up into building plots are still seen by many as the perfect place to live. They are familiar, quiet and green. But what will such areas look like in Flanders in the future? The exhibition presents the initial research results as a series of stories whose starting point is always the future vision of a group of residents, community or group of students. This vision has then been refined by figures such as lawyers, economists, architects and conservationists. Come and see the results for yourself at deSingel.
Debate
opening debate on Tuesday 20 October 2015 in the Music Studio at 8 pm. The lecture is free. Register at www.vai.be/inschrijven
Practical information
open from Wednesday until Sunday from 2 until 6 pm, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and during performances
price: 5 euro, for sale at then entrance of the exhibiotion.
Credits
based on the ‘Estate Stories’ research at Hasselt University’s Faculty of Architecture and Art, by the researchers Oswald Devisch, Barbara Roosen and Marijn van de Weijer - www.verkavelingsverhalen.be
curators Oswald Devisch (Associate Professor, Hasselt University) and Stefan Siffer (Flanders Architecture Institute)
in collaboration with Hasselt University production Flanders Architecture Institute and deSingel International Arts Campus
