Religious heritage
A part of our research involved religious heritage in Flanders. The substantial decline in participants in the Catholic service in Flanders means that the use, management and maintenance of parish churches are ever more difficult.
We investigated the opportunities for adaptive reuse of churches and monasteries. Check this page for an overview of our work.
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Projectbureau Herbestemming Kerken
The substantial decline in participants in the Catholic service in Flanders means that the use, management and maintenance of parish churches are ever more difficult. The integration of a new, secular use is often proposed as a solution to the problem of obsolete church buildings. This integration can be through shared use, which means that the church is still used for religious services with a secular function available through a spatial division in the church interior, or by planning activities at different times. There can also be an adaptive reuse of the church for an entirely new programme. In this case, ‘deconsecration’ (official removal of its religious function) and a change of ownership is considered as a logical consequence.
In order to help church fabrics and municipalities with the decision making process as to the future of parish churches, the Flemish Government launched a research program (2016 – 2018), supervised by the Team Flemish Government Architect and the Agency Immovable Heritage, to conduct feasibility studies for the transformation of parish churches. Tv Trace was one of the teams that was commissioned to execute such feasibility studies. In total, we investigated the opportunities for adaptive reuse of 18 churches:
- St-Joseph church, Harelbeke
- St-Joseph church, Aalst
- St-Amandus church, Willebroek
- St-Petrus church, Kruibeke
- St-Clemens church, Hoogstraten
- Magdalena church, Bruges
- St-Odulphus church, Zoutleeuw
- H. Cross church, Boekhoute
- St-Blatius church, Leopoldsburg
- St-Martinus church, Merelbeke
- St-Joseph church, Niel
- St-Martinus church, Hasselt
- Our Lady church, Kortenberg
- Our Lady of Fatima, Sint-Truiden
- St-Joseph church, Ghent
- St-Martinus church, Deinze
- Church of Our Lady of the poor, Hasselt
- St-Bernardus church, Lubbeek
a collaboration between the research domain Trace, Architecten Broekx-Schiepers, Architect Saidja Heynickx and UR architects.
Monastery of Mariënhof, Borgloon, Belgium
The monastery of Mariënlof is located on top of a hill close to the town of Borgloon in the idyllic landscape of Haspengouw. The monastery is an example of monastic heritage with a well-preserved and compact architectural quality. It was founded by the Order of the Holy Cross in 1431 and functioned for a long time as a destination for pilgrims. Since 1822 the Sisters of Our Lady of Colen of the Cistercian order took over. They have made minor changes and managed to largely maintain the original aspect of the site. In the last decade the different buildings have slowly become underused and vacant due to a decrease in its population.
The assignment set by the Sisters was to define a future (re-)use for the monastery, while respecting the spiritual core and origin, staying close to the monastic adage Ora et Labora. Concrete questions were: How to allow an extra user in the cloister quarters and other buildings around, while guaranteeing the presence of a (small) community of Sisters? How to reactivate the redundant buildings and the economic activities of the site without denying its spiritual and agricultural past? How to balance the contemplative life with the touristic potential of the site?
Team: Nikolaas Vande Keere (UR architects), Koenraad Van Cleempoel, Herman Van Meer
Clients: The sisters of Our Lady of Colen, with the support of the Flanders Heritage Agency
