Jeugtuis aims to provide support for the youth of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek while adding value to the inside of the city. By creating a house, a home, a shelter, a safe-haven, the project seeks to develop social spaces where people can meet and connect. A home for youngsters to engage and build a strong foundation. By integrating a living room, a garden, a kitchen, a hall, … Jeugtuis also welcomes travellers into the community, as if they are at home. Through these shared spaces, travellers and youngsters can exchange experiences, shape their identity, and broaden their perspectives while navigating themselves in the world. 

All this takes place on the inside of an existing building block, structured around three public impasses: Impasse du Jardin; Impasse de la Terrasse; Impasse de la Rencontre, each with its own unique identity. Perpendicular to the busy street, they create an opportunity to unwind and feel safe. The architecture is guided by its users and a sense of belonging, focusing on homeliness. Through three architectural strategies - reusing, upgrading and adding - both the existing buildings and new additions give shape to this home in the middle of the city. Inspired by the senses of a house’s rooms, different functions such as creative spaces, via-via rooms, a skate zone and study rooms, allow a diversity of people to belong. Jeugtuis represents a first step towards a city where young people have a space of their own, explore the world and actively participate in the daily buzz. It aims to inspire similar transformations in other places, shaping a better future for our youth, because they deserve it. At the same time, Jeugtuis brings colour and life to Manchester Street through its diverse programme, turning the street into a vibrant space where everyone feels at home.

So, welcome to our house in the middle of the street.

The delicate crafting of new public spaces behind the existing streetscape of typical Bruxellois terraced houses, combined with architectural finesse that safeguards the ensemble's informality and homely vibe, makes this project stand out! Idealism and realism intertwined! A warm gesture towards Brussels 'young generation.

• Boat workshop (to create job opportunities and for the development and rejuvenation of the canal)
• Via Via dormitories and boat attraction
• Restaurants and cafes
• Apartments building
• Gathering space – Roof top garden
• Large opening courtyard

The ambition to create an environment that is focused on the benefit of the community, and to revitalise both the physical and social context, is evident in the architecture.

The Heyvaert District, located on the westside of Brussels, along the canal, is a lively neighbourhood, mainly focused on fixing up, reselling, and shipping second-hand cars. Known as a ‘starter district’, people of diverse backgrounds and nationalities are the beating heart of this neighbourhood.

Building further on Heyvaerts’ skills and community vibes, Canal Rangers transform a former warehouse site at Quai de Mariemont into a boat repair and maintenance place. Canoe-building workshops are organised here.

Complemented with a ViaViahostel, the site becomes an urban hotspot where local craftsmen (welders, technicians, and engineers) and activists join hands with travelers and occasional volunteers to roam the Brussels Canal and clear it from plastics and waste, as part of the Brussels canal cleanup initiative.

Extending the canal into the site and adding a dock, a new, attractive waterfront is created. By lowering the quay this becomes a charming urban space, where workers and neighbours meet, closer to the water than anywhere else in the city.

New structures, in wood and steel, complement brickwork volumes of the existing - adaptively reused - warehouses on site, creating a human scaled ensemble that uplifts the entire city quarter.  

The Canal Rangers bring new energy and opportunities to this area. Building on the site’s architectural past and its present human skills, it is an invitation to all to build a cleaner future for Brussels, together!

Building upon a bold and daring concept - extending Brussels canal - this project succeeds in creating an inviting place for boatbuilders, travelers, and neighbours alike. Canal Rangers is a new, unexpected place to work, meet, and relax, at the pace of the Heyvaert District, with respect for its characteristic warehouse heritage buildings and the power of its people.

The generosity with which the building invites in the community is appreciated, as is the enthusiasm for making an engaging form that embodies the intent of the project.

Urban Hive proposes the transformation of the Café Frank site on Bree Street into a vibrant, inclusive, and socially responsive mixed-use development. Located in the heart of Cape Town’s CBD, the project responds to the city’s dynamic street life and layered urban culture by vertically stacking a series of public and private functions to serve a wide range of users.

The ground and first floors feature an industrial-style food market designed to stimulate local enterprise and foster everyday social interaction. This active urban edge anchors the building within the existing culinary and cultural fabric of Bree Street. Above this, two intermediate levels house a community daycare center and a ViaVia capsule-style hostel. These programs serve both residents and visitors, encouraging intergenerational and cross-cultural exchange.

The top four floors accommodate 20 custom-designed apartments that offer long-term housing with access to shared terraces and a rooftop community garden.

Passive design strategies such as cross-ventilation, solar shading, and open-air courtyards are integrated throughout to ensure environmental sustainability andthermal comfort.

Urban Hive reflects Cape Town’s diverse urban identity through its spatial layering, inclusive program, and climate-sensitive design. It merges hospitality, housing, and social infrastructure into a unified architectural ecosystem—one that encourages community building, supports economic development, and invites public life to flourish vertically.

We appreciated the attention to detail as far as the existing content is concerned, with great care taken to engage with the existing building and its surroundings in a positive manner. Likewise, the building itself is crafted to accommodate community activities to support the local neighbourhood.

In an increasingly built-up urban context, this project offers a counterbalance: a place of rest, breathing space and slowing down in the heart of Cape Town. With a public Zen garden, a yoga studio, a gallery and a restaurant, we are creating a green enclave where residents and visitors can briefly escape the hustle and bustle of the city. The ambition is to bring a gentle, inviting rhythm to a place that yearns to connect with nature, silence and each other.

The project reuses the existing building on the lot, retaining its concrete structure and exterior walls as a carrier of the past. New additions, such as the yoga studio and the via via, are constructed in light wood structures that deliberately stand out from the existing. This architectural layering makes the process of renewal visible. A garden unfolds between the main building and the Via Via: a walk through greenery that connects functions, but also allows moments of seclusion. Natural materials, open structures and a fluid transition between inside and outside enhance the sense of stillness.

The Zen Garden and the Via Via are in quiet dialogue with each other. The garden offers a place of rest and reflection, while the Via Via brings stories, movement and encounters. From the gallery you have a view of the greenery; conversely, the presence of people, language and culture makes the garden alive. Together, they form a balanced dichotomy between seclusion and connection, between stillness and exchange.This project shows how reuse, temporary additions and landscaping can combine to create an alternative urban space, a place of balance. It is a proposal for how cities can keep breathing without denying their density.

The scale, the architectural composition and materiality give this project its incredible charm and homeliness. The pocket gardens and fragrances are a welcoming addition to the city quarter, breathing the soulfulness of Bo-Kaap. 

 Brick & Bloom is located on the corner of Loop street and Pepper street in the Cape Town CBD. It is encompassed by buildings of different styles and uses. The façade is designed to stick out from the regular street scape and be nonconforming the same way as we want the residence of the building to explore themselves in creative means.

Connectivity plays an important role in our design by creating a place for like minded people to meet. Travelers to meet local Capetonians and people in the sports scene to support and push each other to reach new levels.

Rising proudly in the city bowl of South Africa’s vibrant mother city, this development reimagines the intersection of architecture, lifestyle, and community.

The project anchors itself in place through strong architectural identity, one defined by monumental brick arches, and the steady presence of urban greenery

At this core of our building, the design responds to the need for an inclusive , dynamic space that reflects the multifaceted rhythms of city life, from laid back energy of the VIA VIA to the drive of early morning gym goers, to the creative hum of apartment dwellers, skateboarders, and café patrons.

Our material choices are honest and tactile, celebrating brick, concrete, and vegetation as timeless elements. This project is a platform for urban life.

The arches frame light and shadows throughout the day, creating a strong yet elegant building that opens up to the city.

The project complements and strengthens the park-like atmosphere that exists on the site, with its view down to Trafalgar Park and up towards the mountain. We appreciated the sensitive siting of the extensive facilities so as to maintain this character.

‘A Dancing Landing’ is located between the busy Long Street and Bree Street, at the intersection of Loop and Pepper Street. The building tries to add an alternative public park to the otherwise fossilised urban grid.

From the perspective of ‘heritage and identity’, dance, theatre, and togetherness are major contributing factors in shaping the identity of Cape Town. In the plinth  of the design, there is a café, a dance school, and a theatre. Above these are ViaVia rooms and a few apartments.

The creation of patios serves as the glue that ties everything together but at the same time it’s also extending the public space.

The  patios, which seem to ‘dance’ upward, form a flowing route through the building — from street to dance, from dance to rooms, from rooms to… a city park. With the rooftop park, we aim to set a precedent for designing with more greenery and openness

To enrich the grid, we seek ways to offer the city a public, green, and theatrical future. We are looking for a place that creates opportunities and fosters togetherness — a place that embodies greater urban variety.

With this project, Tuur, Roeland, and Anna create a new urban typology; one that adds green, public, breathing space to the otherwise built-up city of Cape Town. Adding a series of opportunities to meet and interact, they transform the neighbourhood into a welcoming place for people of all walks of life.