City: leuven | ArchDaily

De Nova Secondary School / KPW architecten

Hadir Al Koshta — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

The new extension to the De Nova secondary school illustrates how architecture can embody innovative approaches to learning. The existing educational campus—comprising a kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school, alongside facilities for music and arts education—had evolved over decades. What began as a cluster of pavilions from the 1950s and 1960s, with further additions in the 1970s and 1980s, had become a fragmented ensemble lacking overall cohesion.

Marie Thumas Workplace / tweestroom architecten

Pilar Caballero — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 07:00:00 +0000

In our search for a new office, we've found this raw space in Marie Thumas, an old canning factory in Leuven. While awaiting a major renovation, we, along with other creatives, are now keeping the building alive. We discovered abandoned yet light-filled spaces with peeling paint and transformed them into a fresh environment using materials found within the building. The existing is our greatest and most joyful inspiration. Everything we created for this project adheres to the spirit of reusing materials. Not only do we design using as many reclaimed materials as possible, but we also keep elements removable that don't need to be permanent, allowing for flexibility in future changes. We preserve and highlight the rough, elemental character of the spaces—defined by painted bricks and exposed concrete— and we soften it by the use of textiles, which give each area its distinct charm without excessive costs.

Hertogensite Residences / David Chipperfield Architects

Anna Dumitru — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000

The Hertogensite residences are located at the edge of the medieval center of Leuven, an important university city near Brussels. The project forms part of a master plan for the redevelopment of a former hospital campus that had previously divided the west of the city from the center and as such will contribute to the opening of the site and its reintegration into the surrounding city. Set on a narrow site between a fragment of the city’s medieval wall and a branch of the River Dijle, the development is unique in that it combines several residential typologies: a 14-story tower, nine townhouses, and a small apartment block, uniting them in a single building.

Olevodroom Pavilion / Decoratelier Jozef Wouters

Andreas Luco — Sun, 12 May 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Standing on the empty construction site of a future performance hall, the 'Olevodroom' is a reconfiguration of a cycling track that occupied the site since 2021. Commissioned by the City of Leuven and Arts Centre 30CC to build something that would bridge past and future, we decided to use both. From the velodrome, we repurposed all the wood without cutting any boards, challenging ourselves to find a new shape within an existing one. Pallet racks, reclaimed from an old warehouse and painted in bright colors, were inserted as a support structure that allows the curves of the velodrome to bend and swirl freely, seeking a new shape that invites and shelters. The shape reminds us of the crater of an extinct volcano. We were looking for a simple gesture, a movement, like an embrace, that marks a spot where anyone can hang out at any time.

Tweewater Housing / XDGA

Andreas Luco — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:00:00 +0000

The project consists of two main buildings – the tower and the bar- and is located in a park that was a former important beer production site.

Extension Paridaens School Campus Leuven / LAVA Architecten

Pilar Caballero — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Location. The campus Paridaens received a distinct identity with its new wing for the school. It is now a visual anchor point and a point of orientation which is emphasized by its fifth floor on the side wall of the building. The river Dijle is now exposed and was given a green bank with a walking and cycling lane that flanks the river within the constraints of the school site. Consequently, the adjacent urban residential area Janseniushof has the possibility to become connected to the city center.

Cohousing De Sijs / OFFICEU architects

Pilar Caballero — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 06:00:00 +0000

An ideal balance between privacy and collectivity, with a strong link to the neighborhood and a vast diversity in inside and outside spaces, were the main objectives of this project, aiming for the highest possible living quality.

Hillside House Leuven / Lava architecten

Andreas Luco — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Project. The plot is located on one of the most wooded hill ridges in the area. The substrate consists of the typical iron sandstone, which has a very high bearing capacity. The building uses the existing relief as much as possible. It is placed against the hill, sloping in the opposite direction, creating sufficient space between the house and the hill at the front to create a carport. At the back, the house and the hill reach the same level. The slope of the house translates in the interior with floors that change 36 cm in height or 2 steps of stairs. Given the proximity of the forest and the reached height, it feels like you’re living in the treetops. At the front of the house, a stunning view of the valley is created.

Room in the City / 51N4E

Paula Pintos — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 06:00:00 +0000

The client, a family of 5, lives in an archetypical row house on a dense plot in the historic centre of Leuven.

Wit Huis Monastery / Lava architecten

Paula Pintos — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 03:00:00 +0000

The building, called Wit Huis, is located in the city centre of Leuven, Belgium, on the square of Saint-Jacob. In 1995, the entire square was classified as a protected cityscape. Wit Huis itself became a protected heritage in 2010. The main question for the conversion was: how do the Sisters want to organize their care institution for the future? How can this monumental mansion be turned into a contemporary ‘care’ monastery with a focus on contemplation, in the city centre of Leuven, without violating its historic characteristics?

Social Housing Klein Rijsel / Abscis Architecten + A2D

Valeria Silva — Fri, 25 Dec 2020 03:00:00 +0000

The building site, situated parallel to the railroad tracks of the Leuven train station, is in many ways remarkable. It’s located within walking distance to the station, which is undergoing large scale developments, but it also seamlessly connects to the smaller scale residential area of ‘Klein Rijsel’. The client’s ambition was to build a large amount of social housing as well as private homes, both with underground parking, surrounded by a collective garden accessible to the public. This wasn’t an easy task as the topography of the site, as well as the urban plan ‘BPA Westelijke Spoorweggeul’, imposed certain parameters and limitations to the site.

Lecture: "Bringing Outside Back" by BURA Urbanism's Marco Broekman

Rene Submissions — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 08:59:00 +0000

The expertise of BURA urbanism Amsterdam is shown in urban design projects which respond to urgent societal challenges: BURA “wants to design environments where people can work and live in a healthy and sustainable way, in balance with a resilient ecosystem”. On their company website, the office describes the city as a problem cause because of the air pollution, congestion, inequality it inherently produces. But at the same, the city offers solutions as it is where innovation and renewal are initiated.

Parking Building IMEC / Stéphane Beel Architects

Daniel Tapia — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 12:00:00 +0000

There is a new multi-story car park on the Arenberg III campus, between the IMEC site and the KU Leuven Computer Science building. The IMEC and KU Leuven sites each have their own urban-planning logic. On the south side of the Kapeldreef lies the site of the KUL, where the buildings have been erected in a strictly orthogonal manner, not parallel to the Kapeldreef. On the north side, there is the cluster of IMEC buildings, a cluster that grew more organically.

Student Residence REGA Exterior Landscape / Ontwerpbureau Pauwels

Andreas Luco — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 03:00:00 +0000

During the converting of a number of buildings owned by the University of Louvain (KULeuven), part of the covering of the river Vunt collapsed. Until then, the Vunt was a hidden river flowing under the garden and the buildings. Ontwerpbureau Pauwels was called upon to examine the possible restoration of the damage and a solution for the trees standing right above the covered river.

University Psychiatric Centre / Stéphane Beel Architects

Cristobal Rojas — Tue, 31 Jan 2017 16:00:00 +0000

The psychiatry building is part of AWG Architects’ master-plan for the further development of the UZ Gasthuisberg campus. It is structured around an internal patio. The exentrically position of the patio allows the creation of different sections for large therapy rooms and for smaller spaces such as patients’ rooms.

Semi-detached House with Outdoor Area / Rob Mols Architect + studio k Interior & Landscape Architects

Daniela Cardenas — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 04:00:00 +0000

An existing semi-detached house nearby the city Centre Leuven (Belgium) was extended to a vivid and sunny home for a couple with a passion for sports, travel and books.

Kop van Kessel-Lo Leuven / SeARCH + AR-TE

Cristian Aguilar — Mon, 05 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Belgian architecture practice AR+TE brought SeARCH into the project to create an urban connection and design a new public realm between the center of Leuven, Leuven station and the adjacent village Kessel-Lo which had been desperately lacking.

Offices Tiensevest Leuven / Binst Architects + ARCHI+I

Daniel Sánchez — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Station neighborhoods are prominent meeting places and urban anchors within a city. They are potential impulses which can activate cities towards a stronger metropolis. There where the heartbeats of arriving and departing, sojourning and saying farewell, the skyline is the silhouette of a station’s neighbourhood, a fact that stays in your memory as a traveller.