In a world increasingly under pressure due to housing shortages, urbanization, and climate change, the Friche Josaphat stands as the last green in town in the midst of metropolitan Brussels. However, urban green spaces are usually experienced by distracted urban audiences, preoccupied by day-to-day issues of bills, work, and children, or absorbed in the over-stimulating digital worlds within their smartphone screens. Therefore, it is important to rethink contemporary approaches to nature and urban green space.

The design of my building intertwines memorable and immersive experiences with nature in a cinema and housing tower to allow residents and visitors to discover the special and sublime in our everyday lives. It is rooted in my research into land art projects, which provide great insight into exaggerated constructions of nature and how sequential journeys and vantage points influence their designs. I also looked into drawings and projects of stage set designer/ architect Hans Dieter Schaal who explores in almost endless experimental drawings, different surreal pathways surrounded by a synthesis of natural settings and man-made structures. I created my own drawings that speculate on spatial experiences and journeys for my project. They were done instinctively, with elements recognizable of the Friche occasionally interjected, such as the train tracks and sloped terrain surrounding the edges of the site. They tie in architectural themes I have been addressing such as augmented nature and hyper-nature, immersive experiences, emphasis on journey to create a theatrical staging of spaces and allowed me to speculate on the relationship between my proposed building and the Friche.

By provoking those who experience them into re-encountering their relationship with the natural world, this can lead to new engagement and imaginations, even empowering them to make changes. In doing so, urban green spaces become not just environmentally resilient against the increasing forces of climate change, but also resilient from demolition to meet demands in ever-growing cities.