Located in the multicultural Heyvaert neighborhood of Molenbeek, Soundscape aims to bring local residents and ViaVia travelers together. The core idea is to use music to connect people, share cultures, and give the community a new voice.

The project transforms the area by creating two very different spaces that sit side by side. On one side is a busy and lively public square. Next to it, an old brick warehouse has been updated with a new program. The warehouse now holds a radio station, recording booths and a small music hall and café. The energy from this music hub spills out into the square, where local food sellers share their meals, creating a fun place full of sound and life.

On the other side is a quiet, wild garden. This green area offers a peaceful escape from the busy city life of Brussels and to top it of there’s the community greenhouse with coffeeshop to match the relaxed atmosphere. 

Standing right between these two worlds the loud, energetic square and the calm garden is the ViaVia hostel, which features a tall tower and a gallery. This gallery connected to the building acts as a transition zone rather then a barrier, separating the two zones while also connecting them. Sometimes, performances and events even mix both areas into one big shared experience.

Overall, Soundscape creates a special place where nature and culture, noise and quiet, locals and visitors can easily come together. By focusing on music and community, the project hopes to pause the people and help this historic neighbourhood shine once again.

With a  seemingly simple gesture of a tower and an elevated terrace, the undefined site and its derelict warehouse,  enrich this neighbourhood with two urban rythms: silence and nature on the one side, music and daily hecticness on the other. It is the naturalness of its spatial composition that makes this project stand out?

• 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 project aims to reconnect a community divided by the canal in Brussels through inclusive spaces inspired by daily life and hospitality. Using the via via concept, it seeks to unite locals, celebrate traditions like boat making, and revitalize the market. The ambition is to enhance quality of life, strengthen cultural identity, and support sustainable community and economic development that can influence surrounding areas.

Football has a unique power to connect people across cultures, generations and social backgrounds. In Brussels, and especially in Molenbeek, street football is deeply rooted in everyday life and has become a source of talent, identity and community. This project builds on that universal attraction of the game to create an inclusive meeting place. 

Drawing inspiration from the empowering vibes and social cohesion found in football pitches in dense Brazilian favelas, we partner with the ‘Belgian Red Courts’ and ambassador Thomas Buffel, a former Belgian Red Devil. Aiming to bring Molenbeek’s young people and adults out onto the streets unified by a positive message.

We transform a typical cluttered building block into an active meeting place that provides a safe, constructive escape for the vulnerable youth facing domestic or school struggles, with a simple sports field at its core.

To translate these social ambitions into a spatial reality, we use the adjacent ViaVia hostel as the warm, social anchor of the site.

Our architectural concept revolves around creating a porous indoor-outdoor urban landscape. By intelligently designing the site with open sightlines, inviting courtyards, and transparent openings towards the street, we use architectural means to naturally generate a secure environment through informal surveillance.

Whether it is hosting an international football tournament where global teams stay at the hostel, an informal training sessions organised by volunteers or serving as a daily sanctuary for local kids, this project ensures that activities, human encounters, and organic supervision flow effortlessly into one another. Ultimately, it uses the hostel as a spark and the collective space as a beating heart, aiming to create a lasting, secure, and vibrant impact for the future of the Molenbeek district.

The most salient aspect of this project is the way it frames adaptive reuse not as mere preservation, but as a living process of community empowerment. By rooting design in the exchange of skills and traditions, it demonstrates how architecture can both respect heritage and generate new forms of cultural and social value 

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.

The project stands out for its layered approach to urban living, where architecture is conceived as an extension of the street and a reflection of Cape Town’s cultural vibrancy. What is most compelling is the integration of diverse programs—market, hostel, daycare, and housing—into a cohesive vertical ecosystem that balances public and private life. The project demonstrates how adaptive, socially responsive design can foster inclusivity, sustainability, and community resilience within a dense urban context.

“a place for the unplaced” is an architectural intervention on cape town’s bree street that redefines urban hospitality by intersecting the daily lives of delivery drivers, creative students, and global travelers.

at its core, the project addresses the spatial needs for delivery drivers. by replacing the sidewalk with a dedicated micro-mobility hub, delivery drivers are provided a dignified space to park, recharge devices, and rest in communal areas equipped with amenities and recreational activities between shifts.

complementing this primary function is a creative workshop tailored for design students who lack safe, equipped environments for late-night model making and study. these programmatic anchors are tied together by a 40-bed viavia hostel. the hostel operates on a seasonal rhythm—hosting tourists during the summer peak and offering subsidized or free lodging to students during the academic year.

crucially, the architecture is designed to dissolve boundaries between these diverse user groups. shared lounge spaces and intersecting circulation paths encourage organic engagement, allowing visiting tourists, resting drivers, and working students to interact and share experiences.

situated in a district dense with architecture practices, the building’s transparent facade acts as an urban showcase. by visually exposing the workshop to passing professionals, the hub facilitates natural networking, transforming a place of refuge into a vibrant catalyst for community integration.

 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 is commendable for the way it anchors itself within Cape Town’s urban fabric while simultaneously challenging it through a bold, nonconforming architectural identity. The use of monumental brick arches and integrated greenery strikes a balance between permanence and vibrancy, giving the building both gravitas and openness. The design translates architectural expression into a platform for community life, fostering connectivity between locals, travelers, and creatives in a space that celebrates inclusivity and self-expression.

InClothEd is an architectural project that brings together rest, sustainability, and social connectedness within a dense urban context. The design breaks through the compact character of its surroundings without disrupting the existing streetscape. Behind an introverted exterior, an open and green inner world unfolds, offering a sheltered environment for staying, meeting, and finding rest.

The programme combines two complementary functions: accommodation and a clothing exchange. Visitors can bring in used garments, which are repaired and washed on site before being redistributed to people in need. In return, they receive points within a circular system. These points can be used for accommodation and in the communal dining space. Guests are also encouraged to actively participate by bringing their own clothing to contribute to the exchange.

At the heart of the project lies an enclosed courtyard that connects both functions. This collective green space forms the social centre of the building and provides room for informal encounters, relaxation, and small-scale events. The open façade structure and transparent organisation allow visitors to observe the clothing repair process, making the circular operation of the project visible and tangible.

The building’s form creates a series of terraces overlooking the courtyard, encouraging interaction between users. While the closed outer façade shields the interior from the bustle of the city, the openness towards the courtyard establishes a strong relationship between inside and outside.

The entire structure is constructed in timber and designed as a demountable system. This makes the building flexible, adaptable, and sustainable over time. The project brings together architecture, ecology, and social care in a future-oriented place where reuse, encounter, and rest are central.

The name InClothEd encapsulates this ambition. It refers to the enclosing architecture that embraces and protects the inner garden, as well as to the clothing-based circular programme at the core of the project. At the same time, the name echoes the word included, highlighting the social intention of the design: a place where both people and materials are welcomed back into a larger collective.