This academic year of the International Master consisted of two design studios. The studio took place in the second half of the first semester.

The convent of the Zwartzusters is currently vacant and risks to fall into a state of poor conservation. It dates back to the 14th century and was together with the Dominican monastery historically dominating the neighbourhood of St. Paul in the old centre of the Antwerp. Together with the built heritage, most of the inner gardens of the city block originally belonged to these monasteries and have therefore a religious character. Today their remnants are still visible but largely underused and abandoned with some of the buildings partly in ruin.

The students spent four days in the convent to measure and analyse the existing building and its surroundings. The aim of the project assignment was to give back the abandoned site to the city by reusing the inner gardens and making them accessible. Firstly by introducing a conceptual framework for the transformation of the inner area into public space based on the recurring (and monastic) typology of the Hortus Conclusus. Secondly by reviving the old convent through its transformation into a co-housing project.