NU architectuuratelier

13/10/2026

Sustainable construction holds great promise, but what does building with bio-based materials actually look like in practice? Which solutions really work? What challenges arise during construction? And what can we learn from completed projects?

This Friday, 16 October at 2 PM, Armand Eeckels will share first-hand insights during Embuild’s inspiration session, ‘Bio-circular Building: More Than Just a Straw’. Drawing on a completed project, he will explore which materials were used, which choices proved successful, and where the challenges arose.

- Friday 16 October 2026 | 2:00–4:00 PM
- Embuild, A. Gossetlaan 9, Groot-Bijgaarden
- Free admission, registration required.
- Full programme and registration via https://lnkd.in/e_gY4Bpi

* Participants will also receive free access to Dag van de Afwerking (Finishing Day), featuring a wide range of products, innovations and industry professionals from the sector.

Organised by Embuild Flanders in collaboration with Netwerk Architecten Vlaanderen (NAV), VITO and Buildwise. With the support of VLAIO.

07/10/2026

As part of our retrospective exhibition at Bozar in 2023, we invited documentary filmmaker Bertrand Lafontaine to create a cinematic document about the Ark at Meise Botanic Garden. Today the film is complete and furthermore it has been selected for the AFFR Architecture Film Festival in Rotterdam! We are very happy to see this project continue its life on film and hope to see you at the ARK premiere at AFFR in Rotterdam on Saturday 10th of October.

The new Green Ark was conceived as a refuge for endangered plant species, providing the carefully controlled conditions they need to survive, grow and be studied. ARK follows researchers, architects, engineers and builders throughout the construction process and reflects on the parallels between building and conservation. It shows the complexity of designing a building whose primary inhabitants are plants and captures the continuous dialogue between science, botany, architecture and technology and explores the role architecture can play in protecting biodiversity.

ARK, 2026 — 17 min.
Film by Bertrand Lafontaine
Direction: Bertrand Lafontaine, Michael Lombarts, Steffen Verpoorten
Camera and sound: Michael Lombarts, Jens Vanysacker, Fabian Dewilde, Arthur De Keyser
Montage: Steffen Verpoorten, Michael Lombarts
Produced by: Meise Botanical Garden, NU architectuuratelier, Archipelago Architects, Studieburo Mouton, Bouwbedrijf Van Poppel, De Keyser Wood Industry, Sweco Belgium

AFFR Rotterdam
Rewilding: ARK (part of a programme featuring four documentaries)
Saturday 10 october 2026
18:15
Lantarenvenster - Cinema 5

16/09/2026

14/09/2026

The one we would have loved to see in the park.
For our competition proposal for Heuvelhof Park & Castle in Kessel-Lo, we, together with aNNo architecte, focused on creating adaptable conditions that allow cultural life to grow and evolve over time. The renovated local civic centre in the castle will be transformed into a ‘house of integration’, bringing together various city services and initiatives. Carefully chosen interventions extend the life of the existing castle and allow its rooms to be used in flexible and interchangeable ways. By introducing a vestibule we wanted to create a warm and generous entrance as a shared place that welcomes everyone and encourages encounters between the people at De Nomade, newcomers, local residents, young people and other users of the park.

In the park, a new canopy would add another layer to the landscape, with a pavilion as its first module; the starting point for a structure that could gradually grow and evolve over time. Opening towards the coach-house, it creates a sequence of spaces closely connected to the park. Its circular path embraces a sheltered courtyard, while the natural level difference and the inward fold of the roof form an outdoor theatre in a natural way. The canopy creates a flexible setting for neighbourhood events, and can be used partly or as a whole or temporarily expanded with lightweight fabric structures. At the same time, it would contribute to the city’s ambition to make the Park more climate-adaptive and to turn it into a source of renewable energy. Its architecture starts from the essence of a shelter: two gently inclined columns and a roof. This deliberate reduction results in a clear and refined structure whose strength lies in its simplicity.

Competition proposal

Team: NU architectuuratelier & aNNo architecten
In collaboration with Emaze | Mouton| Tijd en Vlijt.Jan Minne | Egeon | Pan Boombeheer

10/09/2026

We are happy to share that we have won the competition for the redesign of the Architectural Design ateliers (KASK) in the Pauli building on HOGENT’s Bijloke Campus.
Today the study programmes in Interior Design, Landscape Development, and Landscape and Garden Architecture are spread across the campus. This project will bring them together in one shared learning environment within the existing, largely protected buildings of Bijloke Campus.
The challenge lies in one question: what makes a rich learning environment? We see learning as a collective process shaped by encounter, exchange and collaboration. Our aim is to create an inspiring place that encourages these interactions, allowing different disciplines to meet and strengthen one another. By leaving room for appropriation, spontaneity and change, the environment becomes dynamic and open to new possibilities. We look forward to bringing this vision to life together with KASK/HOGENT.

Client: Hogent
Location: Bijloke Ghent

01/09/2026

From 5 September, you can visit the exhibition Paradise Lost? at Meise Botanic Garden. The exhibition pays tribute to Alphonse Balat, master of glass and iron and mentor to Victor Horta. His Balat Greenhouse in Meise marked the beginning of a body of work that would later include iconic projects such as the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken.

At the same time, the exhibition looks ahead and raises a contemporary question: has paradise been lost, or are we creating new habitats in which nature and everyday life can once again grow closer together? Together with thirteen architecture practices, Paradise Lost? explores how architecture can play a connecting role in this.

NU architectuuratelier presents its plans for Sint-Janskerk in Anzegem, showing how we are transforming the fire-damaged nave into a public village garden, where ruin and greenery gradually merge into one another.

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Paradise Lost:
5 September – 25 October 2026 - 10 am to 6 pm
Entrance is included in the admission ticket to Meise Botanic Garden.
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Anzegem Church to become a village garden
in collaboration with Jan Minne Gardenist
Consultancy: Francis Delacroix (Lime), Dries Vanhove (heritage advice)
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Image 2: © NU architectuuratelier
Image 3: © Jan Minne Gardenist

31/08/2026

Just before the summer break, we took the whole team on the road to wrap up a busy and rewarding year together.
First stop: Anzegem, where the ruins of the fire-damaged church are gradually taking on a new role and meaning for the village. On the way, we unexpectedly came across the picnic platforms we designed for Westtoer along the Groene Assen in 2012; the perfect excuse for a collective test. Next up: Ostend, with visits to Duinhelm by Raamwerk and the Crematorium by Office. And the only right way to end a summer day like this: with a walk and a dinner by the sea. A pretty good way to close the year. And now, on to what’s next!

24/08/2026

De architectuuropdracht voor een nieuw woonzorgcentrum in Zemst is via de Open Oproep van de Vlaams Bouwmeester gegund aan NU architectuuratelier.

11/06/2026

Today we celebrated the official opening of Pachthof and the Native Flora Garden at the Meise Botanic Garden. The historic Pachthof have been reimagined as a place for meeting, dining and gathering, embedded within a renewed landscape. The new restaurant carefully weaves itself into the existing ensemble and opens onto a vibrant courtyard framed by historic façades and mature trees.

From the greenhouse complex, visitors enter the new Native Flora Garden, situated on higher ground next to the Tenant Farm and celebrates the diversity of Belgium’s indigenous plant species. A canopy walk across the restaurant roof, planted with rare native grasslands, offers panoramic views over the Botanical Garden before descending via a new spiral staircase into the courtyard.

Together, these interventions reinforce the Botanical Garden’s public role and create new ways to experience the site. The Pachthof Restaurant, rooftop walk and Native Flora Garden are now open to visitors; be sure to pay it a visit!

a project by TV NU-Archipelago
icw: Plant en Houtgoed
engineering office: Boydens part of Sweco, Mouton

04/06/2026

Omdat onze projecttafel steeds voller wordt, schuiven we graag twee extra stoelen bij. We zoeken twee nieuwe collega's die mee willen denken, ontwerpen en realiseren, en die hun talent willen inzetten binnen een creatief, geëngageerd en ambitieus team.

* Projectarchitect met minstens 8 jaar ervaring:
- ervaring zelfstandige projectleiding en realisatie publieke projecten
- voldoende bouwervaring
- voeling met architectuur op mensenmaat
- Nederlandstalig
- communicatief

* Junior architect ter ondersteuning van uitdagende projecten
- 2 jaar ervaring
- kennis BIM/Archicad is een pluspunt
- voeling met bouwtechnische aspecten en presentatietechnieken
- goede kennis van het Nederlands is een meerwaarde

Klinkt dit als iets voor jou? Dan maken we graag kennis!
Stuur je CV en portfolio naar [email protected] met als onderwerp "Vacature + type profiel".

(Delen is lief!)