Astrid graduated in 2024 as a civil engineer-architect with a major in urban planning and architecture from Ghent University. That degree provided not only in-depth technical knowledge, but also the scope to look at the discipline of architecture from different perspectives.

Her thesis, “A Plea for Incubation Space: The redevelopment of the Mary Magdalene Monastery into a semi-permanent incubator”, examines the paradox of temporary infills for neighbourhood development and their social impact. The focus of the research is on finding ways to integrate temporary initiatives into the long-term development of a site. Several fictional future scenarios seek to balance the interests of various actors and the social, economic and spatial implications of redevelopment. This master’s thesis was awarded the prize for the most deserving master’s thesis in the engineering-architect programme, awarded by the department of architecture and urban planning at UGent.

Her publication in A+ 302 Tackling Water at the Source demonstrates her interest in collective, social and cultural projects within complex urban contexts. As part of the Architecture Landscape Transition master studio “Water as Leverage in the Dender Valley”, she constructed a fictional socio-artistic activist festival. It serves as an alternative form of the (art & architecture) exhibition as a form of knowledge and presentation. The project is an investigation into how urban (re)development can go hand in hand with the water management of the urbanised landscape. The conceptual project addresses themes such as land politics in food supply, building material ecologies and social inclusion.

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