What’s Already There. Sustainable Architecture from Brussels

Construction is now identified as the most resource-consuming human activity. It is widely acknowledged that the sector needs to undergo a major shift, but the possible ways remain elusive. What’s Already There presents six projects* designed by architecture firms based in Brussels that demonstrate a strong commitment to dealing responsibly with local resources—be it solar energy, geo- and bio-based materials, reclaimed construction elements, or existing structures—as well as the drive and skills of clients, users, workers, or interested peers. The exhibition is organized as a collection of stories about specific architectural elements. It is from these fragments that a larger picture emerges about the multitude of challenges that we must face today, be it as architects, clients, contractors, legislators or as users, all of us are actors in a critical sector—and more broadly inhabitants of a world that we urgently need to treat with more care.

The exhibition What’s Already There, Sustainable Architecture From Brussels is on view at the National Building Museum in Washington DC from June 2 to August 29, 2022.

It was curated by Pauline Lefebvre and Thomas Vilquin, respectively FNRS Research Associate and Lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture at ULB. The team in charge of the exhibition design also includes alumni and former assistants from the Faculty.

CURATORS Pauline Lefebvre (FNRS, ULB) & Thomas Vilquin (ULB)

EXHIBITION DESIGN Nord + Flore Fockedey + Sébastien Roy

GRAPHIC DESIGN Luuse

PHOTOGRAPHY Philippe Braquenier

AN INITIATIVE OF Brussels-Capital Region: Pascal Smet, Secretary of State; Bety Waknine, director-general of urban.brussels; Anne Claes, director-general of Brussels International

CURATORIAL COORDINATION (urban.brussels) Guy Conde-Reis

COORDINATION (Brussels International) Lene Hardy, Roxane Lienart, Daniel Verheyden

CO-PRODUCTION National Building Museum

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