4
5
—Menatalla Ahmed Agha (Menna Agha) is a trained architect and a
scholar. She holds a bachelor in architecture and a master’s in de-
sign. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the University of Antwerp.
Menna is a third generation displaced Nubian which largely in-
formed her research interest. Her research deals with issues of in-
voluntary resettlement from a spatial perspective, with a special
focus on Nubian displacement. Ms. Agha has work experience in
fieldofacademia,developmentandarchitecturepractice.Shewas
a lecturer at the German University in Cairo, in addition to collabo-
rating on several projectswith development agencies.
02
Marginal carvings:
a moral-spatial exercise
Menna Agha
University of Antwerp
Marginal groups offer humbling lessons to spatial professionals;
they find ways to generate spaces despite adversities by domi-
nant institution/s. The marginal has the ability to resile by carving
spaces within the cracks of the system and then create phenome-
na such as spatial hacks, shadows, temporalities, and transgres-
sions. But can we help? Us architects, designers, planners... etc.
knowing that we are trained to be agents of dominant institutions,
can we lend our skills to those who are spatially disenfranchised?
Can we speak the spatial vocabulary of themargin?
To examine the extent of our possible contribution; in creating
marginal spaces; contesting exclusion; and carving with the dom-
inant, we have todebate concepts such as spatial justice, legality,
relationality, and care. We will learn lessons from political move-
ments, cultural minorities, performance and installation artists,
and economic marginals, we will also solicit knowledge from
fields of moral philosophy, feminist epistemology, and postcoloni-
al theories.
During the exercise, we will go about the city of Antwerp and map
cases of activemarginalities, wewill involve our subjective selves
in chosen cases, and attempt to produce spatial products that
promote spatial justice and/orcontest dominance. This workshop
is designed for the activist in heart, who is willing to suspend his/
her sovereignty, but NOTfor thosewhowish to be heroes.
Re(use) by design
Dewi Brunet / Elsa Bouillot
Artist / Architect
30% of the European waste comes from construction and demoli-
tion (European Commission). The total waste production from the
construction sector in Belgium in 2012 was 26.400 tonnes. These
numbers are increasing rapidly and the amount of construction
waste hasmore than doubled since 2004 (Statistics Belgium).
Nowadays, more than half of the world population lives in urban
areas. This number is set to increase up to 66% by 2050 (UN). To
provide enough shelters, cities will have to adapt themselves, cre-
ate innovative habitation strategies and build in a more efficient
way. The future of our cities will reside in preventing voluminous
amount of waste and invent new opportunities of reuse for them.
Adaptability and sustainability are becoming cornerstones of a so-
ciety’s necessary resilience for the global challenges tocome.
In order to reduce the impact of this waste we have to rethink our
consumeristic approach of building cities. Constructionmaterials
issued from the destruction of an outdated or inefficient building,
oftenconsidered aswaste, aregenerallyofhighqualityandshould
therefore be considered as a valuable commodity, in line with EU
goals of a fully-fledged circulareconomy.
Architecture Faculties have a crucial role to play in this transition
in triggering the opportunity to reuse materials. Better manage-
ment of these materials will soon move from being an innovative
idea, to a critical priority. The time to start is now.
03
—Dewi Brunet is a trained urban planner and now an artist special-
ized in folding. He is passionate about the connections between
origami, design, mathematics, botany, fashion and architecture.
—Elsa Bouillot isan architect fascinated by thequestionsof reusing
construction materials. She is now taking part in ‘Plateforme des
Acteurs pour le Réemploi des Éléments de Construction à Brux-
elles’.
