Research team
Expertise
Since 2019, Sven Verbruggen has been working as a fulltime professor at the University of Antwerp and today is leading the Design Sciences Hub together with Alexander D’Hooghe and Sylvianne Van Butsele. Sven graduated as an engineer-architect from the University of Ghent in 2000, went to work for renowned practices such as Neutelings Riedijk Architects, Skidmore Owings and Merrill, and founded his own design practice. Sven has a track record in working on large hybrid buildings such as the Shipping and Transport College in Rotterdam, the MAS in Antwerp, an opera and hotel designed for Ljubljana city center, and the award-winning Gare Maritime reconversion project for Tour & Taxis in Brussels. During his doctoral research into contemporary design theories—defended in 2017—Sven remained intensively involved in practice. Sven studies typological innovations for decentralized distribution centers (of goods and services, but also energy storage and production, water management, district and city heating), multi-cellular buildings (such as hotels, hospitals, prisons, student housing, and care infrastructure), hybrid buildings ( such as shopping centers and offices, cohousing projects, complexes with housing and workshops for the manufacturing industry), and large collective buildings (such as stadiums, theaters and operas, places of worship and stations). The central themes in his research are city and health, mobility and circularity. These three themes are dissected with tools such as: design research, design thinking, science communication and digital techniques, tradable development rights (VOR) or Transferable Development Rights (TDR), user-based real estate developments, participation (Baugruppen, CLT), and the sharing economy. To frame his research field he coined the term ‘Les Machines a Recréer’, which stands for crucial projects that, through their strategic role—in space and / or time—force the architect-designer and researcher to reflect, explore and innovate. Moreover, Les Machines a Recréer also alludes to the two extremes of architectural commitment: the recreational interpretation—architecture as entertainment— and the ethical interpretation—architecture as a transformer of the urban fabric. With Les Machines à Recreer, crucial urban interventions are studied with an interdisciplinary approach in which architecture operates as a mediator between antagonistic interests and actors. Sven hopes to clarify his research intentions with catchphrases such as: ‘From City Park to Parkcity’, ‘The Green Game’, ‘Circular Camps’, ‘Unplugged City’, ‘Tinder for Real Estate Development’, ‘A Network of TDR Hotspots’, and ‘Last Mile Innovations’.
Visualising 'material spatial dimension of waste flows' in the province of Antwerp (ATLANTES).
Abstract
Flanders and the Province of Antwerp aim to reduce the footprint of raw material consumption by 30% towards 2030, focusing more on circular economy (CE). This project aims to support the CE approach by developing an online platform that visualizes the waste flows from and to the province of Antwerp. After all, thanks to the analysis of waste flows, governments and public institutions can maximize the impact of their policy choices and the results achieved in this CE transition. In addition, it enables companies to trace their waste materials at a provincial level, but also to develop new production processes in which they also reuse their waste materials.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Verbruggen Sven
- Co-promoter: Furlan Cecilia
- Co-promoter: Mercelis Siegfried
- Co-promoter: Van Acker Maarten
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Foreseeing Partnership.
Abstract
This study reports on the research trajectory, conducted by the Design Sciences Hub at the University of Antwerp, and discusses the vision for the transformation of the Mechelse Vesten from a traffic to a residential area. Based on a critical exploration of the current state of the project and the process, an 'expert advice' is developed to better and more broadly prepare - both the project management and the city council - for what is to come: in the short term the introduction of one-way/temporary interventions (2022) and in the longer term complete facade-to-facade redevelopment (2023-2029). To this end, lessons from international example projects are brought together from three angles: the critical success factors in radical urban transformations, anticipating uncertainties in project management, and building capacity for change through targeted participation processes. Weighed in with a critical analysis of contemporary Vests, these insights are then translated into a first pitch in order to shape a supported dream image together with the client, the City of Mechelen. The design is not only focused on the end result, but is above all a method for conducting the debate about the new Vesten, to formalize programming requirements, and to find a supported vision from the city council and other stakeholders.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Verbruggen Sven
- Co-promoter: Coppens Tom
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project