ATAMA

Profile

ATAMA is an architectural practice working on transformative projects with pressing social, cultural and ecological challenges. We design spatial transformations that are simultaneously autonomous and mediating in an often complex, urban context where change to the human environment can be supported in multiple ways. Our designs are inspired by history and enable repurposing in the future. We clarify what is essential in a project and allow it to emerge. Each project aims to be a generous backdrop for life.

ATAMA – formerly TRANS – was established in 2011 by Bram Aerts and Carolien Pasmans. In a short time, the practice has built a strong reputation at the forefront of a much acclaimed generation of Flemish design practices.

Major competition wins include the Royal Institute for Theater, Cinema & Sound in Brussels, the Cultural Center De Felix in Ghent, the transformation of a high-rise in Brussels’ European district and a stacked citydepot for Ghent. Past projects include Ryhove Urban Factory, the Leietheater and the Deelfabriek.The practice is working on serveral large scale masterplans in Flanders. Together with Carmody Groarke and RE-ST the office was selected as the winner of the international design competition for the Design Museum Ghent, which is currently under construction. Together with a broad team we developed the Ghent Waste Brick for Ding, a low carbon alternative to traditional fired bricks.

Bram and Carolien are committed teachers and led studios at the Catholic University of Leuven, the University of Antwerp and the Rotterdamse Academie voor Bouwkunst. Both lecture internationally on architecture and urbanism.

ATAMA was shortlisted for the EU Mies van der Rohe Award 2019, 2021 and 2023, was winner of the Belgian Buildings Awards 2019 and BigMat awards 2019. In 2019 ATAMA was selected as a finalist for the Jo Crepain Awards for most innovative practice in Flanders.

The work of ATAMA is published internationally. In 2018, ‘City Made’, a first monograph on the practice’s work was published by nai | 010. In 2019 ‘As a Theatre’ was published by Borgerhoff & Lamberigts.

Team

Bram Aerts, partner

steering committee

ir. architect
KU Leuven 2002

Carolien Pasmans

partner, steering committee

ir. architect
UGent 2002

Sofie Decaestecker

director, steering committee

ir. architect
UGent 2006

Mara Bauwens

office manager, steering committee

architect
KU Leuven campus Gent 2014

Robin Cuvelier

project leader

architect
KU Leuven campus Gent 2003

 

Michiel Weekers

freelance collaborator

architect
KU Leuven campus Gent 2010

Pieter-Jan Vandenwijngaert

project leader, steering committee

ir. architect
KU Leuven 2020

Luis Duarte Langerock

project collaborator

architect
KU Leuven campus Gent 2021

Jorg Leemans

project collaborator

architect
KU Leuven campus Brussel 2021

Lovro Bradac

project collaborator

architect
Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb. 2018

Jürgen Van der Donckt

project leader

architect
KU Leuven campus Gent 2000

Simon Vynckier

project leader

architect
KU Leuven campus Gent 2015

Jan Szeliga

project collaborator

ir. architect
Warsaw University of Technology WAPW 2020

 

Sander Laureys

freelance collaborator

architect
UAntwerpen 2007

Václav Heginger

project collaborator

architect
KU Leuven campus Brussels 2023

Bert Van Breugel

project leader

ir. architect
KULeuven 1991

Axel Åström

project collaborator

ir. architect
KTH Stockholm, 2023

Andrea Bigi

project collaborator

architect
Politecnico di Milano, 2019

Ellen Van den Eeckhaut

project collaborator

architect
KU Leuven campus Gent 2021

Iwona Sternal

project collaborator

architect
Poznań University of Technology 2019

Daniel Poleac

project collaborator

architect
Faculty of Architecture G.M. Cantacuzino Iasi 2018

Dzinh De Blende

project collaborator

architect
KULeuven 2023

Publications

The Sharing Factory was published by DETAIL in ‘Transformation Architecture in Flanders.’

The Sharing Factory was published in A+ 307.

The Sharing Factory was published on the cover of BAUWELT March 2024.

The Blueprint ‘The Stack. A vertical, circular building for stacked manufacturing’ was published.

Dockside Brussels published in ‘Brussels Housing. Atlas of Urban typologies’. Birkhäuser 2023.

Essay by Bram Aerts in Hybrid Factory Hybrid City, Actar Publishers 2022

Leietheater published in Vorteile

A view inside the office was published in A+ 296

Ryhove Urban Factory is featured in Architectuurkwaliteit Vandaag.

The renovation of the office building in the Aarlenstraat and Trierstraat in Brussels published in A+ nr. 295

Designmuseum published in A+ nr. 294

As a Theatre, Borgerhoff&Lamberigts, 2020, EAN number 9789463930116

Leietheater published in Dimension nr. 61

Deelfabriek Kortrijk, DC Gentbrugge en Aarlen Trier published in A+ nr. 292

 

De Schoor, Schorvoort – Turnhout published in DORPSE ARCHITECTUUR

Ryhove Urban Factory published in Composite Presence

LEIETHEATER DEINZE PUBLISHED IN Architectures Wallonie-Bruxelles Inventaires #3 Inventories

LEIETHEATER DEINZE PUBLISHED IN A +285

Design Museum Ghent published in A +285

Competition Design Museum Ghent published in AV proyectos 099

Ryhove Urban Factory published in Flanders Architectural Review N°14

Ryhove Urban Factory published in A+ 284 special edition

De Schoor Turnhout published in A+ 283

City Made published by nai I 010

Leietheater Deinze published in De Standaard

Dockside Brussels published in A+ 280

Ryhove Urban Factory published in book of the EU Mies Award 2019

Ryhove Urban Factory published in A+ 273

 

Ryhove Urban Factory published in Belgium New Architecture 7

Kerkhofhuisje published in Provenciale architectuurprijs 2015

Cahier #003 Archipel

Cahier #5 Duurzame transformatie

Pilootprojecten Wonen

Pilootprojecten Collectief Wonen

Architectuurboek Vlaanderen n°11 2014

Pilootproject Schorvoort published in A+ 249

Keperke Dilbeek published in De Standaard

Open Oproep

Leietheater Deinze published in A+ 254

Exhibitions

03.06.2022 – 07.10.2022

2022 EUmiesAWARDS EXHIBITION at Bozar Brussels

 

09.06.2022 – 23.10.2022

The Great Transformation – The work of our office is part of “PREFIGURATIONS, an exhibition on Architecture and Transitions.” More info: degroteverbouwing.eu

 

28.04.2022 – …

Arsenaalsite Gent will be exhibited at the travelling exhibition ‘Stadsvernieuwing is mensenwerk’ about Urban Renewal; organised by Architecture Workroom Brussels.

9.10.2021 – 6.03.2022

Verbin’DING’ – From concept to plan

Exhibition about the new extension for the Design Museum, Ghent i.c.w. RE-ST and Carmody Groarke

 

22.05.2021 – 21.11.2021

Composite Presence – Biennale Architettura 2021

The scenography by Bovenbouw Architectuur shows a piece of urban landscape on a scale of 1/15. 50 recent projects by 45 contemporary Belgian practices contribute to the imaginary landscape. The project selection reveals the importance of the current policies in Belgium when it comes to city planning and tendering. Many of the designs in this cityscape stem from procedures set up by city architects, the Flemish Government Architect, and related committees and administrations. This model arrangement simulates the negotiated urban environment that has slowly emerged from this field of expertise.

Source: https://www.vai.be/projecten/composite-presence—biennale-architettura-2021

Image by Carolien Vereecken en Nicolas De Paepe

12.09.2019 – 17.11.2019

Travelling exhibition EU Mies Award 2019 in Bozar Brussels

In April 2019, an international jury chaired by Dorte Mandrup selected a winner from the five remaining finalists for the EU Mies Award 2019 and an Emerging Architect Prize from the earlier shortlist of 40 projects. Since May, a traveling exhibition has been showing models, texts, videos, sketches and drawings of the 40 projects on the shortlist and a summary of all 383 nominees. This constellation spreads the work of European architects and leads to important discussions and collaborations about the way of designing and building, and the interpretation of places, cities and territories. Our project ‘Ryhove Urban Factory’ is on show.

10.10.2019 – 05.01.2020 en 19/01/2020 – 03/05/2020

Exhibition ‘Housing Apart Together’

In the ‘Housing Apart Together’ exhibition, Architectuurwijzer brings together 16 Flemish collective housing projects. Collective living is increasingly seen as a sustainable new form of living, but at the same time there are many questions about sharing and living together. Our project ‘Dockside’ is part of the exhibition.

19.10.2019 – 20.10.2019 and 26.10.2019 – 27.10.2019

Architectenhuiskamer Editie 11: FOUTLOOS

AHK presents the photo exhibition “FOUTLOOS”. Architecture publications show “the picture-perfect”. Is this error-free architecture of every realization a collection of (im-) perfection? Based on 2 photos, architects show their architecture and their attempt to strive for flawlessness.

 

22.09.2019 – 27.09.2019

Expo ‘Ontwerpen voor Gent’

Ghent houses two highly regarded architecture courses and therefore has a lot of potential when it comes to research and design. During F / a, the City Architect takes the initiative to build bridges. Together with the Architecture and Urban Design students of UGent, the KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture, ETH Zurich and the Archipel architecture association, he set up an exhibition with strong student work in which Ghent forms the work field.
The students show interventions in a city that are far from the day-to-day concrete architectural practice, but which, exploratively, represent the tasks and opportunities that the city can offer. The selected projects show Ghent from an explicitly different perspective.

 

(c) Pepo Segura

07.05.2019

Travelling exhibition EU Mies Award 2019

The authors of the shortlisted works participate in seminars, discussions and lectures and the works are presented in different architecture events worldwide. Our project ‘Ryhove Urban Factory’ is on show.

 

04.08.2018 – 01.09.2018

Summer studio Arsenaal Ghent

The ambition of this workshop run by Bram Aerts (KULeuven campus STLucas Ghent) is: “Designing a process on one of the last characteristic and pivotal sites for productive urban economy in Ghent.” 

 

19.05.2017 – 21.05.2017

Verloren ontwerpen, Architectenhuiskamer

A place of honor in a competition, a concept that turns out not to be permissible or a quarrel between clients throwing a spanner in the works… Architects’ living room and Architectuurwijzer give these designs a second life on the beguinage site in Hasselt. About 40 models adorn the decor of the eighth Architects’ living room on 18 May.

 

08.10.2016 – 12.02.2017

MAATWERK MASSARBEIT. Architektur aus Flandern und den Niederlanden

The exhibition ‘MAATWERK MASSARBEIT. Custom Made Architecture from Flanders and the Netherlands’ shows a selection of approximately sixty architectural models. It places the emphasis on tailored work, precision and craftsmanship as undercurrents in Flemish and Dutch architecture of the past thirty years.

 

28.04.2016 – 17.09.2017

Een tijdelijk toekomsteninstituut, M HKA, Antwerpen

A temporary future institute encourages critical thinking about what is coming, rather than looking back at how previous generations imagined “the future.” How will exhibitions stimulate our thinking? Should it be total experiences that lure us away from our screen? How autonomous will art and artists be compared to the rest of the world?

21.10.2015 – 10.01.2016

Open tentoonstelling verkavelingsverhalen

Subdivision neighborhoods often have to endure: too close to each other, too little differentiated, the ecological footprint too high … At the same time, residents are experimenting with collective forms of housing, small-scale business, generating renewable energy together, and more. “Allotment Stories” uses these experiments to start a broad debate around the Flemish allotment neighborhood.

 

Lectures

Lecture on recent work. 31.05.2023 Weimar

Lecture on 25.05.2023.

Lecture on ‘De Stapel’. 19.04.23

Lecture by Bram Aerts at the Design Museum for ‘9000 boeken’ i.c.w. Borgerhoff&Lamberigts. 07.11.21 Ghent

The productive city. 20.10.2022 Kortrijk

Lecture on recent transformation projects. 24.03.22 Istanbul

Lecture about the recent work. 23.03.22 Leuven

 

Leietheater. 17.10.21 Deinze

Lecture by Bram Aerts about The Felix at Minardschouwburg. 10.10.21 Ghent

‘Recent work’ lecture at the University of Liverpool. 23.01.2020 LIVERPOOL

‘hybrid factory/hybrid city’. 14.02.20 Turin

Booklaunch ‘City Made’. 11.10.18 Ghent

‘Ontwerpen voor Gent’, Belgacomtoren. 22.09.19 GHENT

Summer studio Arsenaal, WTC. 04.08.18 Brussels

A-Z lectures, Z33. 23.02.16 Hasselt

Across-lecture. 17.02.16 Luik

Architecture and context, Museum M Leuven. 2016 Leuven

Existenz-leture. 2015 KULeuven

Sustainable transformation Ar-tur. 26.05.15 Leuven

Master of Human Settlements, lecture. 2015 KULeuven

Modulor-lecture. 2015 UAntwerpen

Lecture by Bram Aerts, Archipel vzw. 25.09.15 Ghent

Awards

Leietheater shortlisted for the Erich Mendelsohn prize 2023.

Leietheater has been shortlisted for the Mies Award 2022

Ryhove has been shortlisted for the Architectuurprijs Gent 2021

Leietheater Deinze has been nominated for the Brick Awards 2022

Leietheater Deinze was shortlisted for the Fritz Höger Award 2020 for Brick Architecture.

 

Our office wins a Belgian Building Awards 2020 in the category ‘Build2Work’ for VAN HOOREBEKE TIMBER

Our work has been shortlisted for the EU Mies Award 2019 with Ryhove Urban Factory

Balenmagazijn Gent has received the ‘Special Mention for Young Architects BigMat ’19’.

Ryhove Urban Factory has been nominated for the RES Award 2019

Our office has been nominated for the Jo Crepain Award 2019

Ryhove received a special mentioning for the Architizer A+ Awards 2019

Ryhove Urban Factory has been nominated in the category ‘New Way of Working’ for the BBA 2019

Kerkhofhuisje Dilbeek has been selected for the Provenciale Architectuurprijs Vlaams-Brabant 2015

Agenda

04.10.2023 18:00

Sofa Talk, KULeuven Campus Brussels (B)

A conversation between Gideon Boie and Bram Aerts

19.10.2023 19:30

Lecture on recent work, Deelfabriek Kortrijk (B)

Lecture by Bram Aerts

09.11.2023

Lecture on ‘Stacks’, Yale University (US)

Lecture by Bram Aerts

14.11.2023

Going Public lecture, KULeuven Campus Ghent (B)

Lecture by Bram Aerts + a conversation with Job Floris (Monadnock)

23.11.2023

Lecture on recent work, Academy of Architecture Maastricht (NL)

Lecture by Bram Aerts

19.03.2023

Lecture on recent work, University of Antwerp (B)

Lecture by Bram Aerts

Vacancies

15/04/2024

Vacancy

Full time project leader (eng.) architect with 5+ years experience or more. Responsibilities: project leader for the elaboration of one or more ongoing projects . Skills: talented designer, problem solving, pro-active attitude, experience with Autocad, Adobe Creative Suite, Revit is plus, team player, Dutch + English and/or French – Apply: send CV/portfolio & motivation letter to info@atama-mail.be

 

 

Contact

Atelier for Transformative Architecture & Masterplanning b.v.

Bomastraat 10 – 201
B-9000 Ghent

+32 (0)9 279 99 17
info@atama-mail.be

ATAMA is registered on the table of the Order of Architects, province of East-Flanders.
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