Revalorizing Modernist Church Architecture. The Case of the St. Alène Church in Brussels

Abstract

The St. Alène church by Belgian architects Bastin and Dupuis in Brussels demonstrates multiple layers of modernity, related to modernization in the Catholic Church, modernist architecture, and displacement. In the context of a design studio on adaptive reuse, students were assigned to investigate the use and meaning of the church and to design new layers in coherence with the existing ones. The studio delivered insight in the revalorization of sacred architecture in face of social diversity.