On Saturday 22 November at 3pm, the Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi) and Bureau Bas Smets will organise the closing event of Building Biospheres in the Belgian pavilion at the 19th Architecture Biennale in Venice. During a discussion, curator Bas Smets (Bureau Bas Smets), researcher Kathy Steppe (Ghent University) and bioengineer Dirk De Pauw (Plant AnalytiX) will look back on six months of research and experimentation. Dennis Pohl (director of VAi) will moderate the discussion.

On 19 November, the VAi is organising a talk at De Singel as part of HouseEurope!, a European campaign that advocates renovation as the norm. Instead of demolition, reuse, adaptation and restoration are central to the core strategies for a more sustainable and equitable built environment.

Speakers: Bram Leroux (Wooncoop), Iris Van de Walle (Comisol), ACME, Bram Aerts (Ir. architect - partner ATAMA), Els Van Meerbeek (Ir. architect - partner Carton123) and Jouri De Pelecijn (Team Flemish Government Architect). Moderator: Dennis Pohl (director VAi).

On Thursday 20 November, the Flanders Architecture Institute (VAi) organises its annual research day in De Singel in Antwerp. Entitled Hors Catégorie, it explores how archival classifications shape – but also limit – our understanding of design heritage. How do we categorise objects, disciplines, and forms of authorship and what blind spots are produced through these systems? How can we consider practices that elude, transcend, or contest conventional institutional and historical classification? What to do with practices hors catégorie?

Expect a day full of inspiring keynotes, sparkling debates and interesting encounters.