Embodied Culture explores the cultural layers of the built environment across time, scale, and practice. The symposium brings together scholars, designers, and practitioners to reflect on how materials, labour, techniques, and regulations shape buildings, and how buildings in turn shape societies and landscapes.

News

• The Call for Abstracts is closed. Submitted papers will be reviewed in April. Feedback to authors is expected in late April.
• Registration is now open for external participants.
• A more detailled programme will be published soon.

Registration

Registration for external participants is now open. Please register via the online registration page: 

• Registration fee : €60/day
• Lunch is included on both symposium days. On May 26, a walking dinner will take place in the evening (also included in the registration fee). Guided visits on May 27 are also included in the registration fee, but places are limited.
• Further practical details are available on the registration page.

Information for contributors

Feedback on submitted papers is expected in late April or early May, after which revised versions will be due by 7 May.

Contributions will be compiled into a downloadable PDF volume of proceedings. Authors are therefore kindly asked to ensure that permissions and copyright clearances, especially for images, are in place by the time of final submission.

For formatting and submission instructions, please refer to the communication sent directly to authors or contact the organisers.

Preliminary programme (update April 20)

The symposium is organised around six thematic sessions:

• Materials & Landscapes
• Labour, Tools & Agency
• Cultural Techniques & Practices
• Regulations & Bureaucracy
• Temporalities & Afterlives
• Material Traces & Metacultural Operations

The programme includes regular paper sessions and alternative-format presentations.

Tuesday May 26th:

• 09.30 am - 10 am: Registration
• 10 am - 10.20 am: Welcome
• 10.20 am - 1 pm: Paper session 'Materials & Landscapes'
• 1 pm - 2 pm: Lunch + Alternative format presentation
• 2 pm - 3.40 pm: Paper session: 'Labour, Tools & Agency'
• 4 pm - 5.40 pm: Paper session: 'Cultural Techniques & Practices'
• 6 pm-...: Walking dinner

Wednesday May 27th:

• 09 am - 09.45 am: Guided Visits
• 10 am - 10.20 am: Welcome
• 10.20 am - 1.20 pm: Paper session 'Regulations & Bureaucracy'
• 1.20 pm - 2.20 pm: Lunch + Alternative format presentation
• 2.20 pm - 4 pm: Paper session 'Temporalities & Afterlives'
• 4.20 pm - 6.50 pm: Paper sessions 'Material traces & Metacultural Operations'
• 6.30 pm - 7 pm: Closing

A more detailed version of the programme can be found here. Please note that this programme is still subject to change.

Practical information

Venue: Usquare.brussels (VUB–ULB), Hall AC, Avenue de la Couronne 227, 1050 Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium

Catering: Lunch will be provided on both days of the symposium. A walking dinner will be organised on 26 May.

Travel and accommodation: Participants are kindly asked to arrange their own travel and accommodation.

Guided Visits

On the morning of Wednesday 27 May, symposium participants will have the opportunity to join one of three guided visits at nearby sites that resonate closely with the themes of Embodied Culture. The visits offer a chance to explore buildings and projects in Brussels where questions of heritage, transformation, circularity and design are addressed in particularly tangible ways.

The three visits are:

• USquare (maximum 30 participants). Guided tour by BC architects (BC architects)
• WVDM Living Lab (maximum 15 participants). Guided tour by MAKER architecten (architecten bureau | MAKER Architecten | Belgium)
• Braem Building (VUB Rectorate) (maximum 15 participants). Guided tour by Korei Guided Tours (Interior visits and guided tours in Brussels - Korei)

All three sites are located within a 10-minute walk of the symposium venue. The visits will start at 9:00 on site and will end at 9:45, allowing participants to return in time for the continuation of the symposium programme at 10:00.

Participants are invited to submit their preferences through the online registration form, where they can indicate their first, second and third choice. We will do our best to assign everyone to one of their preferred visits, while taking into account the maximum capacity of each group. If you are only interested in visiting one of the sites, you may simply select the same option as your first, second and third choice. As places are limited, we kindly ask you to register only if you are sure that you will be able to attend. Should you later find that you can no longer join, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can offer the place to another participant.

More information on the three visits and the guiding organisations can be found here.

Committees & Networks

The symposium is organised by VUB Architectural Engineering within the FWO Scientific Research Network READ.ADAPT.REUSE, the interdisciplinary project Re-Building Brussels (1695–2025) and the Excellence of Science-project Construction History, Above and Beyond.

Scientific Committee (in alphabetical order): Tiphaine Abenia, Thordis Arrhenius, Linda Clarke, Judith Cools, Stijn Cools, Alison Creba, Lionel Devlieger, Bert De Munck, Simon De Nys-Ketels, Robby Fivez, Michaël Ghyoot, Christoph Grafe, Jane Mah Hutton, Imane Huyghebaert, Pauline Lefebvre, Mari Lending, Katie Lloyd Thomas, Bie Plevoets, Chiara Pradel, Lara Reyniers, Mathias Rollot, Susan Ross, Eireen Schreurs, Lara Schrijver, Jean Souviron, Stephanie Van de Voorde, Liese Van Holen, Caroline Voet, Christine Wall      
Organising Committee: Stephanie Van de Voorde, Imane Huyghebaert, Judith Cools, Liese Van Holen (VUB Architectural Engineering)