Presentation

L’architecture qui dégenre is a platform that questions the dominant order, builds equality, edifies optimism. L’architecture qui dégenre is a space for sharing practices and knowledge related to architectural, artistic and urban equality.

Initiated by the architect Apolline Vranken on the occasion of the publication of her book “Des béguinages à l’architecture féministe” (Université des Femmes, 2018), L’architecture qui dégenre is the initiator of the first Matrimony Days in Belgium (since 2019) and of the Matrimony Season (since 2021). The association also creates and organizes feminist guided tours, trainings for architects, workshops to integrate the gender dimension in architectural projects.

It officially became a non-profit organization in the summer of 2021 and has about twenty people involved in its organization as administrators, tour guides, graphic designers, video artists, exhibition curators, members of the support committee, etc. All of our missions allow us to take into account the participation of women* and gender minorities in the multiple professions related to heritage.

The association aims at gender equality and diversity. The association, through its bodies and projects, reflects the following values: feminism, right to the city, human rights, equality, solidarity, inclusion, intersectionality.

The pursuit of the goal and the activities of the association follow the principles of social innovation, support for alternative cultural, artistic, militant and commercial practices, empowerment of women and visible and invisible minorities, establishment of associative networks to build new solidarities and according to a social, egalitarian, citizen, solidarity, inclusive, intersectional and intercultural vision.

Goals

L’architecture qui dégenre promotes culture in all its forms and develops projects related to, among others, the city, architecture, urbanism and tangible and intangible heritage, through

• permanent and popular education ;
• architectural and cultural mediation
• awareness and emulation in the field of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, contemporary architecture, urban planning and urban renewal;
• the creation, organization and animation of cultural or intellectual events such as workshops, trainings, exhibitions, festivals, events, guided tours, Matrimony Days, Matrimony Season, conferences, workshops, educational activities, etc. ;
• research;
• the creation of content such as mapping, publications, podcasts, capsules, videos, etc. ;
• the constitution of a library and a media library of knowledge that interests its purpose;
• the response to calls for projects from public institutions and actors from the associative sector;
• partnerships with private actors whose objectives are in line with its goals, as well as the support of projects aiming at these same goals;
• participation in public debate and the defense of the values dear to the association.
• etc.

Activities & tools

Looking for an activity for your association and your team?

L’architecture qui dégenre offers guided tours in several formats, adapted to your wishes and needs. For any request and/or question, please send us an email to:

info@architecturequidegenre.be

Looking for advice to think equality in the public space/your workspace/your living environment?

L’architecture qui dégenre’s expertise has been growing since 2016; we can help you design and build your projects. Please address your questions to:

info@architecturequidegenre.be

Guided tours

L’architecture qui dégenre offers different themes and places for guided tours. Find out more about our guided tours here !

• Feminist guided tour of the Brussels / Kortrijk beguinage
• Brussels outside the walls of gender
• Guided feminist tour in Saint-Gilles
• Feminist guided tour in Etterbeek
• Etc.

Talks

Conferences, festivals, events, … We have at heart to transmit to the general public the knowledge and practices to build an egalitarian city. Find out more about our conferences here!

• What feminists are doing to architecture
• From crushes to feminist architecture
• Gender Toolkit: instructions for an egalitarian architecture
• Living outside the walls of gender: examples of gender sensitive architecture and urbanism in Belgium
• Public/private: gender to deconstruct our spatial structures
• Heritage: architectural mediation as a tool for inclusion
• Etc.

Educational activities

L’architecture qui dégenre asbl proposes pedagogical activities in classes of French-speaking schools in Brussels.

• Futur\Matrimoine : un atelier jeunesse à la découverte des femmes* d’hier et d’aujourd’hui : this activity is addressed to classes of 1st, 2nd and 3rd secondary and aims to fight against the invisibilization of women and gender minorities and to awaken young people to media and gender equality issues.

Support

L’architecture qui dégenre has been developing its expertise in this field since 2016 and offers various tailor-made services:

• Design and create inclusive living spaces (housing, work space, public space, sanitary facilities, etc.)
• Accompany project leaders in the creation/renovation/adaptation of a place
• Helping to understand the spaces and tools of the project (plans, sections, models, axonometrics, etc.)
• Analyze the context and identify specific needs with different tools (sensitive map, creation of a reference system, experience expertise, round table, etc.)
• Advise institutions in their political and spatial inclusion objectives (member of the Scientific Committee on Post-Covid Housing, among others)

Exhibitions

• Queering Brussels

🔎 What is Queering Brussels? An exhibition that puts forward a critique and a possible future of the city of Brussels through queer prisms. The exhibition presents several queer architecture projects and offers complementary programming with guided tours of the city as well as lectures and screenings on the themes of gender, the city and specific LGBTQIA+ issues in order to lead an in-depth discussion on these issues and include a diversity of audiences and actors.

✏️Queering Brussels will be held at Halles Saint-Géry from September 10 to November 21, 2022. You will discover, among others, the works of Victor Abraham Lacô, Léa Brami, Alexis Le Gallo, Camille Valette. The exhibition is free and open every day.