The VAi knowledge centre is committed to the cultural heritage of the design of the environment 'from chair to city'. We support all actors who pursue activities involving this heritage.
By ‘design of the environment’, we mean architecture, construction, urban planning, spatial planning, interior design, furniture design, graphic design, design and product development. This heritage takes on different forms. These may include models and mock-ups, plans, photographs, digital documents, material samples, documentary heritage, objects and the intangible cultural heritage of designers, producers and construction.
The core of the centre’s activities includes the central registration of all the heritage on this subject in a central system, the Architectural Archives Database. This generates a useful search portal for the design of the environment in Flanders and a general overview that can serve as a policy instrument.
We support all actors who pursue activities in the fields of architecture, construction and design in order to better register, manage, open up and highlight the archives and collections. We are constantly gathering knowledge on this subject and are actively trying to disseminate it among our partners. We centralize this expertise as much as possible on our advice pages.
In collaboration with other partners, the knowledge centre sets up projects around concrete themes. Through these projects, we collect and disseminate knowledge and increase public awareness of archives and collections about the design of the environment. An overview of our projects can be found in the project overview.
Are you an architect, designer, construction company, heritage organization, educational institution? We are eager to work with all organizations and on all themes. Feel free to contact us for more information: kenniscentrum@vai.be