91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Abstract

The construction industry's environmental impact demands urgent action, with adaptive reuse emerging as a key strategy to extend the lifespan of existing buildings. However, for reuse to be viable at scale, the conditions that enable buildings to adapt must be better understood. While adaptability is often framed in terms of programmatic flexibility, recent research emphasises the role of spatial configuration, understood as the organisation of access between spaces shaped by the circulation system (i.e. stairs, lifts, corridors, cores and shafts that structure connectivity and accessibility). During conversion, this system is challenged as new uses require changes in accessibility, permeability and connectivity, making reuse potential critically dependent on the capacity of circulation systems to be reconfigured. This research investigates how circulation systems facilitate reuse through an evidence-based study of converted buildings. Eight cases are analysed qualitatively using digital mapping and semi-structured interviews to generate hypotheses and define numerical parameters of adaptability. These parameters are tested on the full 30-case dataset using graph-based analysis and statistical analysis to assess their validity. Advanced computational methods translate the validated findings into a data-driven tool for evaluating circulation systems to support decision-making in adaptive reuse projects, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable built environment.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario
• Fellow: Ndiaye Zena

Research team(s)

• Architecture + Interior01/11/2026 - 31/10/2030

Funding

• FWO

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

ROOTS is a five-year network that brings together researchers from the Benelux and DACH regions to bridge the gap between architectural design and timber engineering, and to advance circular timber construction and sustainability. Through three symposia and two training schools aimed at Early Career Researchers (ECRs), it addresses key interdisciplinary questions across five work packages. WP1, State-of-the-Art Mapping, builds a shared overview of circular timber design frameworks, research and practice initiatives, and the main knowledge gaps between architecture and engineering. WP2, Case 91³Ô¹ÏÍø Analysis, examines exemplary circular timber buildings to identify best practices and key architectural and engineering strategies. WP3, Integrated Design Strategies, explores how architectural and engineering demands can reinforce each other, covering spatial constraints and quality, fire regulation, acoustic performance, manufacturing, and construction and deconstruction techniques. WP4, Circularity Metrics and Life Cycle Integration, develops and builds capacity in new methods for assessing the circularity potential and environmental impact of timber buildings. WP5, Building a New Collaboration Ethos, focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration for future-proof research, strengthening the voice of ECRs, and securing the long-term impact of the network.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario

Research team(s)

• Architecture + Interior01/01/2026 - 31/12/2030

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

scientific Research Network (SRN) Read.Adapt.Reuse is based on two fundamental premises: First, the pressing need to address societal challenges such as climate change and resource scarcity has led to EU policy frameworks emphasizing the importance of renovating and reusing existing buildings to achieve sustainable development goals (European Environment Agency, 2022; European Commission, 2021). Second, the Davos Declaration emphasizes that "building is culture" and advocates for a holistic, culture-centered approach to the built environment (European Ministers of Culture, 2018). Nevertheless, in policy making, scientific research, and the architectural profession, technical and economic aspects often take precedence, while the cultural dimension is neglected (e.g. De Caigny et al, 2023). However, innovative research that foregrounds the cultural aspects of the built environment is beginning to emerge in various disciplines in Flanders and beyond. The researchers involved in this SRN share a common interest in exploring innovative methods for reading and interpreting the cultural layers of the built environment and activating tangible and intangible traces of the past. Up to now, the outcomes of this research have often remained confined within specific disciplines. This SRN aims to open up these boundaries, building further on the momentum and collaborative foundation that was laid in the international symposium As Found, organized by UHasselt (coordinator of this SRN) and the Flemish Architecture Institute in September 2023 (with support of an FWO grant).

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario

Research team(s)

• Architecture + Interior01/01/2024 - 31/12/2028

Funding

• FWO

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The building industry's environmental impact underscores the urgent need for sustainable construction practices. Maintaining our building stock is, therefore, imperative. This research examines how circulation systems (i.e., stairs, lifts, corridors, cores, and shafts, which structure movement, connectivity, and accessibility) can facilitate adaptive reuse, ultimately extending the lifespan of buildings. Acknowledging that designing for change requires understanding change first, the study conducts an evidence-based analysis of converted buildings to generate novel insights into circulation's role in adaptability. By combining academic research with implicit knowledge from building practice, the project develops guidelines for designing and reusing buildings with robust circulation networks that critically contribute to a sustainable built environment.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario
• Fellow: Ndiaye Zena

Research team(s)

• Architecture + Interior01/11/2025 - 31/10/2026

Funding

• BOF

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The harmful effects of the building industry on our environment pose an increasing pressure on the development of new sustainable practices of construction. This project aims at laying the scientific foundation of basic design strategies to develop longer-lasting and more adaptable load-bearing structures of buildings, which are considered the most permanent building part and which hold the vast majority of embodied carbon. However, to design for change, change must first be understood. Through the empirical analysis of existing rehabilitated buildings, this project will generate novel insight into how and under which constraints buildings can indeed change, connecting findings from academic research and architectural practice.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario
• Co-promoter: Blom Johan
• Fellow: Pacquée Robbe

Research team(s)

• Architecture + Interior01/11/2022 - 31/10/2026

Funding

• FWO
• FWO

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Based on the limitations of resources we face, the project explores a paradigm shift: designing architecture with availabilities. This puts the architect in a new role within the design and construction process which challenges architecture education fundamentally. Therefore, new methods, tools and processes in architecture education must be found and established. Architects are essential agents in the necessary shift for a sustainable construction sector as they develop ideas, shaping buildings and our infrastructure, essentially choosing building materials and moderating building processes. While researchers and practitioners have taken on the issue and explore alternatives based on the circular use of materials, construction parts or buildings, the education of architects is still largely disconnected with the reflection of new design strategies for a more sustainable built environment. The actual design practice in architectural education needs to be connected to the state-of-the-art knowledge about sustainable design, students and teachers need to establish and train resource (availability) based design as a new paradigm in our building culture. And there needs to be a broader understanding of what sustainability and circularity mean and what they can bring to the very different within the European context. Embedding circular thinking and making actual objects in the very context of places are powerful elements of architectural education that need to be tools in future-proof architecture curricula.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario

Research team(s)

• Architecture + Interior28/02/2022 - 27/02/2025

Funding

• EU-NT. KAD

Project type(s)

• Research Project
• Education Project

Abstract

This research project aims to understand how buildings change over their lifetime if they are adapted. If buildings are not or cannot be used anymore, their very characteristic design, particularly its building structure, often prevents it from being adapted to new possible functions leading to vacancy and, consequently, demolition. Obsolescence is by far the main reason for demolition — and mostly of rather young buildings: Their service life (ca. 40 years) is thus much shorter than its physical life expectancy (min 80-100 years). Understanding the circumstances of change, first of its use and then of the building, and which components prevent or allow necessary transformations or extensions, forms a substantial basis for the design of new buildings. Such knowledge of change is largely missing. Building both on a detailed analysis of various case studies along their adaptations and the agency of stakeholders in the building industry, the project will model adaptability empirically to show how building functions, construction systems and materials are connected, and which paths of sustainable building design are most likely to produce long-living buildings.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario
• Co-promoter: Blom Johan
• Fellow: Pacquée Robbe

Research team(s)

• Architecture + Interior01/10/2021 - 30/09/2025

Funding

• BOF

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The load-bearing structure of a building is not only the most permanent layer of a building, it is also the most energy intensive. It should thus be designed and constructed to serve not only a first lifespan of a building but also enable its reuse and allow adaptations for new functions. To understand how structure are most likely adapted and they are allowing or preventing change around them, this project studies reused and adapted modern buildings. Following this evidence-based approach, it also discusses the design paths of the stakeholders in the renovation process to connect the structure with its context as well as the desired and undertaken changes. The findings of these object histories will be mapped in spatial CAD models and, eventually, formalized in schematic diagrams with zones of adaptability related to functions and the structural layout. Providing a novel modeling approach of permanence and change in a building, the general findings can further used for new design process of fundamentally adaptable buildings and further research into adaptability modeling.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario

Research team(s)

• Architecture + Interior01/07/2021 - 31/12/2022

Funding

• BOF

Project type(s)

• Research Project