Koenraad studied art history in Leuven, Madrid and London. He obtained a PhD at the Warburg Institute in London. Since 2004 he is professor of art history at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts in Hasselt University (B). He is part of a research unit that deals with aspects of adaptive reuse. In 2017 he held the PP Rubens Chair at UCBerkeley.
Bie Plevoets studied Interior Architecture in Hasselt and Conservation of Monuments and Sites at the Raymond Lemaire International Centre for Conservation in Leuven. She obtained a PhD on adaptive reuse, approached from an interior perspective. Her research focuses on adaptive reuse theory. She has worked on the concept of genius loci in relation to adaptive reuse, and on various conceptual strategies to intervene in the existing fabric such as aemulatio, vernacular adaptation, and façadism. She is currently an assistant professor in the research group Trace and a senior postdoctoral fellow of the FWO Flanders, working on a project entitled ‘Reusing the Ruin: Building upon the fragmentary fabric’.
She is the author of the book ‘Adaptive Reuse of the Built Heritage: Concepts and Cases of an Emerging Discipline’, co-authored by Koenraad Van Cleempoel (Routledge, 2019) and teaches the Theory Module in the International Master Adaptive Reuse.
Nikolaas graduated as a Civil Engineer Architect at the University of Ghent (BE) in 1994. He has worked for ten years in architectural offices in Belgium and the Netherlands and is co-director of UR architects since 2001. The office has realized various projects with different scales and programs and specialized in research by design on adaptive reuse. As Guest Professor he taught at Delft University of Technology (NL) in the chair of Interiors Buildings Cities between 2007 and 2013. Since 2014 he is teaching design studio and became an Associate Professor in 2016 at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts at Hasselt University. He is currently coordinating the International Master programme on Adaptive Reuse and is a member of the research unit Trace. In the Spring of 2022, he will teach a seminar on contentious heritage at the Department of Architecture of UC Berkeley (US) as holder of the PP Rubens Chair. His main interests are research-by-design, theory, and history in the field of adaptive reuse with a focus on ecclesiastical architecture and contentious heritage.
Saidja graduated magna cum laude in Interior Architecture and Architecture at the PHL University College in Hasselt (BE). He is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts of Hasselt University, where he coordinates the courses with a bound or interaction with the arts and teaches in the designstudio master Interiorarchitecture. His research focuses on the tactical use of the architectural sketch and the use of models in the design process (research seminar TACTICS) as a representation of thoughts. Besides a profound interest in drawing and teaching he has an own architectural office.
Karen studied architecture at Saint-Lucas Brussels and MaMa Architectural Sciences at KULeuven. She holds a PhD, titled: Adaptive reuse of monastic heritage - Cloth maker's moulage as alternative thread to an architectural master plan. This dissertation is an interdisciplinary work based on research (by design), (interior) architecture, adaptive reuse, fashion and tailoring. As a member of Trace she employs the same interdisciplinary approach when she teaches design and theoretical studios/courses to (interior) architecture students in both bachelor and master. In her work as an architect she also focuses on adaptive reuse and interior architecture.
Linde studied Interior Architecture and obtained her degree in the International master of Interior Architecture on Adaptive Reuse in 2017 at Hasselt University (BE). Her master thesis investigates the connection between representation and atmosphere and uses this as a tool to analyse the layered complexity of historical sites (longlisted for Vlaamse Scriptieprijs and showcased at “We Are The Next Generation”).
She is currently completing a master’s degree in educational studies while active as a teaching assistant at Hasselt University with special interest in adaptive reuse, architectural models and architectural poetics.
Marie is currently doing a PhD Fellowship Fundamental Research (1116421N) funded by Research Foundation Flanders, at the research group TRACE. Her project is entitled: BELGIAN MOMO HERITAGE ON THE RADAR - Re-reading modernist housing estates: an inquiry into the value of threatened heritage sites and the possibilities of adaptive reuse as a method for re-evaluation. Beside she is the secretary of DOCOMOMO Belgium, the Belgian committee of DOCOMOMO International which focuses on the DOcumentation and COnservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of MOdern MOvement.
She graduated in 2017 as an architect at the University of Hasselt, faculty Architecture and Arts. She did an Erasmus stay in Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Architecture de Saint Etienne, France. With her master project ‘The Citadel of Tides’, she obtained an honorable mention for the 27th Euregional Prize for Architecture, the selection of the shortlist of the European Architectural Medals – Best Diploma Projects, the first mention of the Vanhove Price UPA-BUA 2017, runner-up for the Vectorworks Design Competition Benelux Architecture 2019 and she ended up with the eight finalists of the Young Talent Architecture Award by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe. As a result her project was disposed at the Biennale Architettura 2018 in Venice. Marie finished the first year of her internship at the office TeamvanMeer! in Hasselt.
Syed Hamid Akbar is a Ph.D. scholar from Pakistan. He has a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Pakistan with over seven years of professional experience in the field of architecture. He joined the Hasselt University in 2017, on a scholarship program of ‘Higher Education Commission Faculty Development Program’ from ‘Government of Pakistan’. He completed his degree with distinction in ‘International Masters of Interior Architecture: Adaptive Reuse’ from Faculty of Architecture & Arts in 2018. Syed have a special interest in old abandoned buildings, which have the heritage status, and how to safeguard these gems from demolition and re-vitalize them for some new functions. His master’s thesis was also on an abandoned mosque building in Pakistan, which he has also presented in a conference in Malaysia and published in the conference proceedings. After his master’s degree, he continued his studies in the same field and become part of research group ‘Trace’ on the same scholarship, and started his Ph.D. with research focus on Adaptive reuse of British era protected heritage in Karachi, Pakistan.
Naveed Iqbal studied Architecture at University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar, Pakistan. He is a PCATP registered architect and has a professional experience of four years in Pakistan, where he designed and supervised medium to large-sized residential and commercial projects. He obtained his master’s degree in interior architecture Adaptive reuse and then joined TRACE research group as PhD scholar at Hasselt University Belgium. Naveed is working on the concept of industrial heritage and its adaptive reuse. His current research deals with adaptive reuse practices related to industrial sites in the western world and exploring its possible potentials in developing countries like Pakistan.
Nadin Augustiniok studied architecture at the Bauhaus-University in Weimar (DE) and worked for several years as a practicing architect. She is also a graduate student of the master course Sustainable Building Conservation in Cardiff (UK) Her master thesis examined the art of prefabricated hyperbolic shells used as structural building elements in the former German Democratic Republic. Currently she is a PhD research fellow at the University of Hasselt and the University of Liège (BE). Her dissertation research area is the assessment of values in adaptive reuse projects and their implementation into legislation on the example of Belgium.
In her work Elke explores the intersections between architecture, visual studies, intellectual history and pedagogy. She studied Fine Arts (Sint-Lucas Academy, Ghent) and Art History (KU Leuven) and defended her PhD “Gestures make Arguments. Performing Architectural Theory in the Studio and the Classroom 196x-199x” in June 2018 at the KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture. In 2018, she worked as a post-doctoral fellow on the project “Is Architecture Art?” at the University of Queensland’s Centre for Architecture, Theory, Criticism and History. As of October 2019, she teaches art and architecture history at UHasselt and works within the research group TRACE. Her work has been published in the journals Image&Narrative, Paedagogica Historica and History of Intellectual Culture and in several magazines for contemporary art.
Stefanie studied architecture at KU Leuven and graduated cum laude in 2015 at UHasselt, where she presented her master thesis to the Queen of Belgium.
In 2013 she was selected for Price Jef Van Ranst and won Febelcem Concrete Design Competition one year later. The jury committee, led by Laurent Ney, honoured the graphical qualities of her winning proposal.
She was runner-up for 'Meesterproef 2017 - Heritage & adaptive reuse', a competition for promising young architects of Vlaams Bouwmeester (B).
After joining 'Muller Van Severen' (B) she worked for four years as an independent architect in architectural offices in Belgium, founded 'Studio Kanada' in 2018 and was a teacher of 'Arts' and 'Film' at the Art Academy of Haspengouw (B).
Currently, Stefanie is doing a PhD on model making and hand drawing for the discipline of Adaptive Reuse at research groups Trace & Frame and is tutoring at the University of Hasselt.
Godfrey is a registered practicing architect and a lecturer at Ardhi University in Tanzania. He graduated B. Arch in 2002 and M. Arch in 2010 at the University of Dar es Salaam. Godfrey seamlessly merges his Maasai cultural command and architectural skills to conduct a transdisciplinary research in the Maasai community.
Currently Godfrey is finalizing his PhD research, titled “Nexus Between Indigenous Maasai Architecture and Ecotourism in Ngorongoro Conservation Area”; a bilateral research project between Hasselt University and Ardhi University.
Research Interests: Architectural anthropology, Vernacular construction techniques, Conservation of immaterial heritage, Adaptive reuse, Tourism, and Sustainability.
Colm mac Aoidh is a transdisciplinary practitioner, researcher and writer working across architecture, urbanism, design and communication. He holds a degree in Visual Communication Design from Dublin Institute of Technology and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from London Metropolitan University.
After studying a Master in Architecture and Sustainability at KU Leuven, he completed a Professional Diploma in Architecture at London Met. Alongside writing for books and journals, Colm has worked with Caruso St John Architects in London, Robbrecht en Daem architecten in Ghent, and with the Brussels Bouwmeester Maitre Architecte on the Urban Maestro project, an international collaboration with UN-Habitat and University College London which explored and encouraged innovation in urban design governance. His PhD research with Trace aims to develop a conceptual framework for adaptive reuse based on meaning and translation, approaching reuse theory through the lenses of other disciplines.
Nusrat completed her master's in Interior Architecture focusing on Adaptive Reuse from Hasselt University in June 2022. Her master thesis titled "From Hostile to Hospitable" investigated a human-centric approach to redesigning the Ready Made Garment factories of Bangladesh through adaptive reuse. Prior to this, she graduated from the German University of Technology in Oman GUtech (Affiliated with RWTH Aachen University) with a Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning and Architectural Design in 2018. Following her graduation, she worked as a teaching assistant at GUtech, where she taught design courses and helped supervise studios and bachelor theses over a period of 3 semesters. She also worked as a graphic designer and events coordinator at a professional conference organizer (PCO) in Oman, dealing with international and local conferences. As a Bangladeshi who was born and brought up in the Sultanate of Oman, her personal background has played a significant part in choosing her research topic.
She is currently a PhD research fellow at Hasselt University, exploring the potential of reviving historic interiors through adaptive reuse via a comparative study between Flanders, Dhaka, and Muscat.