Bri-Collage City is a short design exercise that takes a critical look at the Belgian urban landscape.
The exercise rethinks the relationships between typical urban fragments. Seen from above, Belgium appears as a highly fragmented territory:a vast mosaic of recurring elements with little to no connection between them. One fragment emerges beside another without mutual influence: an industrial park next to a suburban subdivision, an old factory beside a piece of city, a social housing estate adjacent to a harbor zone.
In this exercise, the landscape described by Renaat Braem in The Ugliest Country in the World serves as our starting point; the very field we literally engage with and use as a ground for design exploration.
Each student received a unique selection of two randomly assigned urban fragments. The combination of these fragments defined the framework and conditions within which the project must operate.