West 8 Speaks at ACE Conference on Adaptive Re-Use and Transition of the Built Heritage

On Friday 23 November, the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) organised in Leeuwarden, the 2018 European Capital of Culture, a conference on the Adaptive Re-Use and Transition of the Built Heritage. This event took place in the framework of the European Year of Cultural Heritage (EYCH) and related in particular to the initiative on Heritage in Transition: Re-imagining industrial, religious and military spaces for the regeneration of urban and rural areas.

With the evolution of European societies, many places in our built environment (notably industrial, religious and military sites) have lost their original function. Through smart restoration, renovation or transformation these buildings and sites can find new, mixed or extended uses. As a result, their social, environmental and economic value can increase, while their cultural or historical significance is enhanced. Responsibility for re-imagining our built environment and heritage is shared by many stakeholders: architects, town planners, public authorities, financial institutions, owners and other built and heritage professionals.

Senior architect Penne HANGELBROEK of West 8 joined this conference with other architects and stakeholders of the heritage sector together to discuss:

  • the skills, knowledge and competences necessary for quality heritage interventions;
  • the design challenges inherent to adaptive re-use and the relationships and dialogue between heritage elements and new architectural interventions;
  • the importance of heritage in the definition of a territorial identity and its impacts on the attractiveness of places.

Speakers of the event Session 1: SKILLS AND COMPETENCES OF HERITAGE PROFESSIONALS included Xander VERMEULEN WINDSANT, Winner of 2017 EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award amongst others. Hangelbroek presented at the Session 2: FINDING A RE-USE THAT FITS – A DIALOGUE BETWEEN HERITAGE AND CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE. Full list of speakers can be found here.

This event relates to the Commission’s initiative on Heritage in Transition which aims to promote good practice and smart ways to transform Europe’s industrial, religious and military heritage for new use(r)s. The conference brought together the partners of the initiative to take stock of the lessons learned over the EYCH and discuss how to build on the momentum generated by the Year for future actions in this area. 

You can download the Leeuwarden Declaration in PDF from the ACE website (also enclosed to this email, in French and English).