Parckdesign is a biennale focusing on redesigning green space. Together with atelier le balto and Eric Troussicot, for the 2012 edition Architecture Workroom Brussels was part of the team of curators, and provided technical support to Parckdesign. The aim was to transform derelict residual spaces in Brussels.
In previous editions of Parckdesign the accent was mainly on designing urban furniture for existing Brussels parks, but the 2012 edition focused on the reinterpretation of derelict sites, residual spaces and intermediate spaces in Brussels. Using a number of small-scale interventions these sites were transformed to improve quality of life in the city. The curator team's ambition was to closely align the physical interventions with the socio-economic reality of the participating districts in Brussels, Molenbeek and Anderlecht. The team’s aim was to contribute to the construction of a sustainable and open society.
Architecture Workroom Brussels set up a laboratory for interaction in order to stimulate a more social, economic and environment-linked approach for the green public space. To achieve this the team of curators developed a map of opportunities, which highlighted a number of blind spots. These are zones in the city where the traditional green is not easily accessible today. To frame the Parckdesign 2012 event the districts around the southern part of the canal were selected as the work area. A number of sites were designated in this area that formed the testing ground for developing new strategies.
After the sites had been selected, several multidisciplinary teams were appointed to submit project proposals for one or more of the sites. The teams formed partnerships involving landscape designers, artists, architects and designers. The whole thought, design and interaction process culminated in an event in the summer of 2012 with urban, rural, artistic and participative interventions in the public space.
