Skip to content
2026

Practical Guide to Building for Change

Development of OVAM’s Practical Guide to Building for Change, providing guidance for clients and commissioning bodies on adaptable, sustainable building strategies.

Mieke Vandenbroucke Mieke Vandenbroucke
Joost Declercq
Eliah Mallants Eliah Mallants
Maarten Lambrechts
Wendy Boswell Wendy Boswell

Development of the “Practical Guide to Building for Change” commissioned by OVAM: a handbook for clients and commissioning bodies outlining the possibilities of reversible building and the selection of appropriate methods and strategies. In collaboration with NAV, several training courses were subsequently organised across Flanders. The publication received the Henry van de Velde Design Award Bronze in 2025 in the Design Research category. The guide has since been translated into French and linked to GRO 2025 as an inspiration guide.

How do I make my building future-proof ?

Related projects & research

  • Residential

Climate study on heat stress in Belgian homes

  • Masterplan
  • Residential

Site Haute: social housing tower as a laboratory for sustainable renewal

Transformation Capacity Tool

research project
Adaptation and further development of the Transformation Capacity Tool to the Brussels construction context, commissioned by Brussels Environment. Later also further developed for GRO 2025.

ReCoVer++

research project
ICON VLAIO project using dynamic simulations of buildings under extreme shocks, especially heatwaves. Archipelago investigates the effect of passive design solutions.
  • Public

Wijgmaal Railway Station: a 19th-century station becomes a circular icon

  • Hospital

Caring Nature makes healthcare buildings truly future-proof

  • Hospital

A circular and modular entrance building for AZ Sint-Elisabeth

Enough is more - sufficiency as a design strategy

research project
Sufficiency puts users, daylight and natural ventilation at the centre to optimise energy use, CO₂ and dynamic comfort in healthcare buildings.

Building resilience in healthcare: how hospital room design impacts energy use and occupant well-being

research project
Combinations of window size, glazing and solar shading determine energy use and comfort in patient rooms and thus act as a lever for more sustainable healthcare buildings.
  • Hospital

Exploring a Space Kit Approach to guard psychosocial well-being in planning public hospital spaces

How to design a resilient building? Lessons learnt from an architectural view

research project
The Archipelago office in Leuven shows how mass, glazing, solar shading and natural ventilation make buildings more resilient to future heatwaves.
  • Hospital

An urban hospital based on the principles of circular economy: the case of Joseph Bracops hospital.