Units

HABITER Study center in Development, Territory and Landscapes

HABITER is the Study Center in Development, Territory and Landscape which, within the ULB's Faculty of Architecture La Cambre Horta, is engaged with the study of landscape, urban and territorial transformation dynamics in the North as well as in the South of the world.   Its activities are focused on cooperation and development issues at large, with an ecological and cultural approach to sustainability and context.   HABITER was created in June 2013, as a step in the development of research activities within the Faculty of architecture; a process started with the creation of the Center of Associated Labs for Research in Architecture CLARA in January 2011, and the unification of the two former superior institutes for architecture ISACF-La Cambre (founded 1927) and ISAI-Victor Horta (founded 1711 as Royal Academy of Fine Arts) and their integration in the university in 2010.   HABITER develops its research activities in close link to the two other pillars of the university's mission: teaching and service to society.   The members of HABITER explore the rationales of spatial and societal transformations of urban and non urban spaces, trough the peculiar tools of architecture, urban and landscape design, supported by the input of connected disciplines such as the Humanities, the Social, Natural and Engineering Sciences.   The works developed within HABITER target fields such as cultural heritage, urban services, landscape, energy transition, local governance, sustainable neighbourhoods, etc. seen as the indicators and drivers of the ongoing developments and changes within cities and territories nowadays. The approach developed within HABITER is context- and scale-specific ' from the architectural object to the urban, landscape and territorial systems ' and turns its attention to the existing or required socio-political, technical, and spatial devices able to guarantee innovative forms of development, in relation to the rising frames of reference in regional planning, governance, landscape and ecological urbanism.

Projetcs

2013-2014: Preparation of a «Best-pratice guidebook in passive-building» (Grand Livre du Passif / architecture: passive - stratégies, expériences et regards croisés en Belgique, 440 p.)

Expertise aiming to assess, structure, and disseminate the sum of knowledge and know-how accumulated, especially since the launching of the be.passive magazine in 2009 (referees: BERNARD DEPREZ, SEBASTIAN MORENO-VACCA). Budget: 76.393,43'

2014-2015: Implementation of the «Innovation Comittee» to identify the innovative practices in sustainable building in Brussels

Survey of exemplary buildings awarded by the Batex call in the Brussels-Capital Region, promoteur: BERNARD DEPREZ. Budget: 198.839 '

2008-2012: Establishment of the «Facilitateur Quartier Durable» service in the Brussels Capital Region for the Brussels Institute for the Management of Environment (http://www.bruxellesenvironnement.be/facilitateur)

This unit, counting 5 people, provided guidance to new builing projects' promoters at the scale of the neighborhood, and collaborated from the start in the process of preparing local sustainable urban planning schemes (contrats de quartiers durables) in the Brussels area (référent: BERNARD DEPREZ). Budget: 640.000' over 4 years.Within this frame, the following outcomes have been produced:- 2012: Toolbox Developping groups of plots;- 2011: Toolbox Sustainable rehabilitation of groups of high-rise buildings;- 2011: Elaboration of ''relevance/irrelevance of a label in Brussels at the neighborhood scale'', comparison of 4 reference developments (LEED, BREEAM, Duurzamheidsmeter-Gent, BedZED) and application over the 18 ongoing schemes in Brussels;- 2010: Research and elaboration for a mapping tool to determine the success factors of a sustainable neighborhood development in the Brussels area;- 2009: Elaboration of a «Handbook for sustainable neighborhoods», including the Sustainable Check-up tool: elaboration of an approach to guide the design of sustainbale developments at the scale of the neighborhood (see: http://documentation.bruxellesenvironnement.be/documents/Memento_2009_QuartiersDurables_Prof_FR.PDF?langtype=2060); organisation of workshops over sustainable neighborhoods: Processus (17.11.08), Eau (12.12.08), Eco-mobilité-Accessibilité'Flux (23.01.09), Partons du terrain, partons des gens (02.10.09), Plus durable et moins cher (01/06/12) as well as a number of rountables and seminars with specialized audiences (SISP, Municipalities, etc.);- organisation of a European seminar over Best Practices in sustainable urban rehabilitation within the frame of the Belgian presidency of the EU (15.09.10, Bozar).