In updating a residential centre in Belgium for people with mental disabilities, UR Architects demonstrate that evolving views on care can be consistent with reusing old buildings.
A shortlist of 15 adaptive reuse projects that demonstrate clarity and ingenuity have been selected by the judging panel
As the need for sustainable alternatives to building anew becomes increasingly urgent, these 15 projects from around the world show how the imaginative appropriation of existing structures can welcome new contemporary uses.
The shortlist was selected by a panel of judges that included Rossana Hu, founding partner at Neri & Hu and chair of the architecture department at the University of Pennsylvania; May al-Ibrashy, Egyptian architectural engineer and co-founder of Megawra – Built Environment Collective; and William Mann, founding director at Witherford Watson Mann Architects (WWM) based in London.
The panel was looking for projects that demonstrate clarity and ingenuity, engaging meaningfully with existing structures and their surroundings and offering a potential for innovation – whether in material, social or cultural terms.
The winner and commended projects will be announced online next month and published in the July/August issue of The Architectural Review.
‘The atmosphere of the original buildings was domestic, suburban and calm, but also somewhat dark, closed and cramped’
The project Monnikenbos has been highly commended in the 2025 AR New into Old awards: read the article by Christophe Van Gerrewey in the Architectural Review.
book
Monnikenheide in Zoersel is a residential care centre for people with mental disabilities. A special place for special people, it is examined from an architectural perspective for the first time in this book.
