• Level Five is a cooperative studio for and by artists. We collectively organise and take care of our spaces and the people making use of them. In this way we create a durable foundation for each of our artistic practices and initiatives.

Level Five is a cooperative studio for and by artists. We collectively organise and take care of our spaces and the people making use of them. In this way we create a durable foundation for each of our artistic practices and initiatives.

Sophia Holst

‘Cité de la Philanthropie / Stad van Menslievendheid’ is an investigation into the ‘social’ of historic and current social housing production of Brussels. In 2021 it resulted in a publication and exhibition at the Open Studios of the Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht. Photography: Axel De Marteau Graphic design: @deal_bxl Institute: @janvaneyckacademie Photograph exhibition: Savas Boyraz
Cité de la Philanthropie / Stad van Menslievendheid’ is an investigation into the ‘social’ of historic and current social housing production of Brussels. In conversations with residents and other parties, this project urges a search for inclusive social ideologies connected to the production and renovation of public housing in Brussels. Photography: Axel De Marteau Graphic design: @deal_bxl With support of: @janvaneyckacademie
This urban intervention was realized in the heart of Brussels in front of la Bourse and the Beursschouwburg. During Car Free Sunday 2021 it hosted different events and functions such as: a bar, seating areas, spaces for performances and bike repair stands. Photograph by: Rob Ritzen In collaboration with: @deal_bxl and @That Might Be Right With support of: @beursschouwburg

Through research, exhibitions and applied architectural projects, I both practice and reflect on the field of architecture and urban planning. By manoeuvring into this field, I intend to reveal and question ideological standpoints behind urban developments and architectural forms. I focus on my own living environment, a Western European context, where city-politics tends to bend towards neo-liberal urban growth at the expense of socio-economic diversity and urban equality. How can urban development and architectural form be inclusive and sensitive to meaningful forms of life? As study and practice I create and test forms of daily life in all types of scales. Some of my projects have focused on: the value of public privacy and un-programmed public spaces, the privatisation of urban commons in Vilnius, the continual issues around radical social housing renovations (both in Belgium and the Netherlands), and the potential of monumental residual spaces in Amsterdam.

Bio
Sophia Holst (1988) is a Dutch architect researcher, active within the architecture fields of Belgium and the Netherlands. She obtained a Master’s degree in Visual Arts at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam and a Master in Architecture at the KU Leuven in Brussels. She collaborated with architecture offices like Studio Anne Holtrop (NL), Nu architectuuratelier (BE) and CRIT architects (BE). In 2021 she completed her residency at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Supported by Creative Industries Fund NL, she currently works on the foundations of an independent architecture and research practice, with projects such as: Cité de la Philanthropie/ Stad van Menslievendheid (BE), Geleefde Monumenten(NL, collaboration Andre Cramer) and Housing Pain, Healing Strategies (NL).

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