SOCIAL ECOSYSTEM

Usually, these constructions are funded om donations (materials and tools), and om the monthly contribution their members pay based on a solidarity system (those who can, pay more, so others can pay less). If there is a need for bigger in astructure at certain sites (such as an electricity generator), they run a crowdsourcing campaign. They also received financial support om governmental organisations thought solidarity and ecological awards.

Primarily operated by volunteers, om 2018 Communa was able to employ its 10 members full time with a compensatory salary for investing in the operation of the organisation.

Communa also developed an internal exchange currency for the services that the associations could offer to each other within the di fferent Communa buildings. The currency is called SEM (Network Exchange Service) and is based on time unit (1µ = 1 hour) rather than on Euro.

The organisation does not have a fixed formula for what kind of organisations should have access to the spaces they create in the empty buildings in order to achieve a balanced 'ecosystem'. Apparently, they intend to remain as open as possible when it comes to finding new tenants upon a new building becomes available. They believe, that facilitating access to these spaces should empower the citizens living in the neighbourhood, enabling everyone to participate in the construction of the city.

The selection process for future tenants (residence or organisation) therefore happens together with the active members and representatives of the neighbourhood, an occupant om another Communa site and a member of the Communa crew. These organisations can have di fferent aims: many associations focus on the support of the most vulnerable, with access to decent housing and other social support. Others use this opportunity to carry out cultural or artistic projects, and sometimes the aim is just to create a meeting space for people with di fferent backgrounds or to organise workshops where people can develop new skills.

The associations in the 10 buildings currently occupied by Communa are interconnected with social and economical networks optimising the management of available resources.

One resource, for instance, is food. Communa puts great effort in reducing food waste, so they have regular shipments om grocery stores with unsold uits and vegetables. Some of the food is used at various cooking events where food is prepared with the help of volunteers and served for ee. Many of the residences have solidarity idge with ee food for people in need. The management and distribution of this food is centralised in Le Septante 13, while the ee dinner events usually happen in the community kitchen of La Serre. Some other buildings have a profile focusing on material reuse, and up-cycling workshops, they are in charge of managing resources such as surplus construction material or tools. This ecosystem also provides some sort of security for the case if the occupation period comes to an end earlier than planned, and residence or organisations can easily find space for themselves in another Communa building (if they could not manage to find a permanent place elsewhere till that.)

The aim is however not necessarily to facilitate the temporariness of such organisations, but to find a way to make them feasible and financially independent on the longer term.

In the case of emergency living units, they do not just wish to offer accommodation, because that alone would not solve the issues connected to precariousness and exclusion. What they wish to achieve is an integrated empowering process, where the accommodation is supplemented by social support, professional integration and skill-building. The whole process happens within a very open and supportive community, making sure that till the end of the occupation period residence will be able to move out to a permanent place and integrate back fully in the society.

'Zin TV' has his offices at Buissonnière and shows his work at the Tri Postal.

Le Septante 13

Residency+ Workshops

300 M2 since 2017 February

Distribution centre for the unsold supermarket food, sent to other Communa residences.

BINÔME10 living units, 560 M2 since 2018 September

La

BUISSONNIÉREResidency + Workshops

500 M2

"100 PAP" share the offices of Cygnes and sell their beers at the two bars

TRI POSTAL Workshops

1340 M2 since 2019 November

"Chant Pour Tous" organizes its sessions at La Serre and at Le Septante 13.

'Diogenes' has its offices in La Buissonniére and supports people housed in Binome.

'Hu Needs' has an office in Cygnes and supports people housed in Binome.

The 'Solidarity Fridge' at Binome was formed at Cygnes.

The Ecosystem Of The Communa Places

CYGNES

Workshops

500 M2 since 2019 November since 2017 October residents volunteering/ organising programs sharing tools/resources/food

The occupants organize events also in La Serre.

The volunteer team of the bar at La Serre comes as a reinforcement in case of bigger events at Tri Postal

"Singa" organized activities at both places.

"Le Moussap" is sold at La Serre and Tri Postal and its creator is a resident of "Deux-Pontes"

"Thursdays Makers" are created by the occupants of these 2 places.

LA SERREResidency + Workshops

850 M2 since 2017 March

Deux

Ponts

-

Residency

250 M2 since 2017 March

'L'Outilthéque' provides tools for the collective workshops

LA RÉCUP'

Workshops

200 M2 since 2017 December

A resident of Deux-Ponts volunteers at the La Récup'.

'Gilband' makes workshops with the La Récup'

'Gilband' created the Tri Postal sign. Provides materials for construction sites and projects

ABC

-

465 M2 since 2018 October

Client: CLT Brussels

Construction And Future Improvements

As an organisation mainly consisting of young lawyers and social workers, my role as an architect within Communa's operation was a central question for me om the beginning.

A er studying their operation method throughout previous and ongoing occupation projects, and throughout our discussions, it became clear for me, that the biggest challenge they face is connected to the notion of constant relocation. Temporariness is not yet incorporated into their construction mode: they hardly ever dismantle and reuse the structures they made at previous sites because of the lack of preliminary design. Understandably, since the building happens quite organically as donated materials become available. However, controlling this working method could lead to limiting the creativity that volunteers can bring in. Finding the balance here as a designer is a challenge I would like to take, saving them some time and materials that could be reused.

This is om what the idea emerged, that it would be great to have some permanent structural elements, that would provide the basic in astructure that they always need at the beginning of the occupation.

While primarily Communa has more object-like or furniture-like elements, they are open to extending their field of operation to vacant building sites with empty plots and construction sites, where the construction has not yet started and is currently on hold.