How can Brussels produce more affordable housing? How can the city adapt to climate change? How to transform the existing built heritage instead of demolishing it?
These questions lie at the heart of the mission of the Bouwmeester maitre architecte (BMA) and the major transformations currently taking place across the Brussels-Capital Region.
Through BMAxAcademics, the BMA aims to strengthen the links between academia and contemporary urban challenges by inviting universities and schools to work on strategic themes and sites that are crucial to Brussels.

Working on the real city
Each semester, the BMA identifies a number of priority research topics and strategic sites. Design studios choosing to engage with these themes gain access to available documentation, the expertise of the BMA, and ongoing reflections within public administrations and other public stakeholders.
The objective is not to produce final answers, but to explore new approaches, test scenarios and contribute to the debate on the future of Brussels.
For students, BMAxAcademics offers the opportunity to work on real-life situations rooted in current urban challenges and to confront their projects with the constraints, opportunities and stakeholders that shape the city.

THREE PRIORITY THEMES:

How can we accelerate the delivery of affordable housing? How can we renovate the existing housing stock? What role do housing cooperatives, Community Land Trusts and office conversions play?

How do we create more accessible open spaces? How can we strengthen Brussels’ green and blue networks? How can we make the city more resilient to heatwaves and flooding?

How can the transformation of existing buildings become the norm? How do we foster circularity and material reuse? How can buildings be adapted to meet tomorrow’s needs?

STRATEGIC SITES AS LIVING LABORATORIES
The proposed study sites include the former Saint-Gilles and Forest prisons, the Midi district and its urban blocks, as well as several projects focusing on open space and the adaptive reuse of built heritage.
Together, these sites provide valuable laboratories for imagining the future of Brussels.

WHAT DOES THE BMA OFFER?
– An introductory briefing on the site or theme;
– Access to available studies and documentation;
– Regular exchanges with the BMA team;
– Participation in interim reviews and final juries;
– Opportunities to showcase the work produced.

The most relevant outcomes may contribute to the BMA’s strategic reflections and be presented during an annual collective event.

Interested?
Teachers wishing to develop a design studio within the framework of BMAxAcademics are invited to contact the BMA by email at info@bma.brussels to discuss the proposed themes and study sites for the next academic semester.