Building in the Built Environment 2: Working on Existing Buildings

larcb2162  2025-2026  Bruxelles Saint-Gilles

Building in the Built Environment 2: Working on Existing Buildings
5.00 credits
40.0 h + 15.0 h
Q2
> Schedule
Teacher(s)
Marino Giulia;
Language
French
Main themes
The course aims to equip students with the skills required to approach projects within existing structures from a material design perspective. Intervention in existing buildings is addressed in all its complexity, synthesizing cultural, material, and constructive considerations, including the architect’s environmental responsibility. The course explores a range of intervention strategies—such as conservation, renovation, transformation, extension, reallocation, rehabilitation, deconstruction, and reinforcement—while remaining closely tied to the built object. Students will integrate concepts of environmental impact and circularity into their approaches.
Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

  • Identify, propose, and justify intervention strategies based on the physical and spatial characteristics of the building, its state of conservation, and the objectives of the project (e.g. issues, constraints, regulatory framework),
  • Compare and evaluate the impact of proposed measures using a multi-criteria approach, including the sustainability of the solutions,
  • Outline and synthesize the correlation between proposed measures, presenting them clearly and intelligibly,
  • Design an architectural detail specific to an existing building,
  • Articulate views effectively, using discipline-specific terminology appropriately.

General Learning Outcomes

In line with the program’s learning outcomes (LOs), this course contributes to the development and acquisition of the following LOs:
  • LO1.1 Prioritize the parameters and issues of a given situation.
  • LO1.2 Justify the intentions and choices of an architectural project at different intervention scales.
  • LO1.4 Compose the material elements of a construction or development with artistry.
  • LO1.6 Integrate Sustainable Development requirements into the design process, at multiple scales.
  • LO3.3 Understand and integrate scientific and technical knowledge to realize an architectural project.
  • LO3.4 Understand and assess the environmental, social, and economic consequences of construction and technical choices.
  • LO4.4 Understand and assess the environmental, social, and economic consequences of architectural choices.
 
 
Content
Understanding the cultural and construction-related specificities of built heritage is therefore considered the starting point for the project. Based on this in-depth investigation, the main themes of the project in the existing context are examined in detail. The cultural reasons for and applications of the preservation project are explored with the support of a few fundamental ethical and legislative concepts, as well as an introduction to the common tools used to inventory and preliminarily define the heritage value of buildings. This historical and critical introduction continues with an examination of the project's challenges, from preliminary research and analysis to developing the most appropriate project strategy and managing and implementing it.
Teaching methods
Teaching alternates between lectures and practical sessions. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the project in existing buildings, synergies with other courses are planned, such as building physics, surveying, figurative techniques, structures and materials. Similarly, contributions from professionals in the field will be invited in the form of public lectures and/or site visits.
Evaluation methods
Graphic and textual analysis work forms the basis of the assessment during the exam period. This work is carried out throughout the four-month term and is divided into successive production phases, with teachers providing guidance during dedicated time slots. The work is submitted and defended during the exam period. Students' active participation in exercise sessions is also assessed.
If generative artificial intelligence (AI) is used, it must be handled responsibly and in line with academic and scientific integrity practices. Anyone using generative AI in a way that does not align with the uses outlined in the teaching unit description is engaging in conduct that constitutes an irregularity under Article 107 of the RGEE (non-personal student production in an assessment context).
Bibliography
Une bibliographie spécifique, par thème traité, sera distribuée pendant les cours.
Faculty or entity
> LOCI


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Learning outcomes
Master [120] in Architecture (Bruxelles)
ARCB2M
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