What happens when churches, community centres, cultural centres or other communal buildings lose their original function, whilst the need for social interaction, care, learning and community building is actually on the rise? With ‘Open Workroom: Houses of the Commons’, Workroom Brussels presents an exhibition that approaches this apparent paradox as a design challenge. Using specific case studies, the exhibition explores how existing buildings can evolve into new social infrastructure: places where different functions, users and communities come together.

The exhibition is more than just a showcase of inspiring projects. It offers an insight into the organisational, social and spatial processes underlying these initiatives. Five example projects, including Molenwest (see A+291) and Globe Aroma (see A+314), demonstrate how new forms of collective use emerge from local needs, shared ownership and collaboration between citizens, designers, public authorities and civil society organisations. Video documentaries illustrate how such places grow, change and are sustained by the people who use them.

For architects, designers, policymakers and anyone concerned about the future of our built environment, ‘Houses for the common good’ offers a refreshing perspective on some of today’s major spatial challenges. The exhibition shifts the focus from the individual building to the community that makes it possible, and from sector-specific solutions to shared societal ambitions.

Open Workroom: Houses for the common good

When: every Thursday between 1 October 2026 and 31 March 2027, from 10.00 to 18.00

Where: Pachecolaan 34 (6th floor), 1000 Brussels