Renaud Haerlingen

Architect, former Principal at Rotor and Co-founder of Rotor Deconstruction

Renaud has been a principal at Rotor from 2010 till 2020, is a co-founder of Rotor Deconstruction and remains a satellite member of the cooperative organization based in Belgium. At Rotor, he led open-ended design projects, design assistance consultancies and engagements with high profile actors from the real estate sector.

In recent years, he has given lectures, led studios and multiple academic workshops at places such as the Royal College of Art in London, TU Delft, ETH Zurich, Social Design at Die Angewandte in Vienna, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru or Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. Since 2015, Renaud has sustained a privileged relationship with Switzerland through engagements with leading institutions and connections with local actors. In 2023, he relocated to Geneva.

Prior to this, Renaud worked on the design development of projects in the Middle East and as a member of the Brussels collective Boups, he organized free-parties and designed public happenings. In the late nineties, he joined Masterclasses by Kasuyo Sejima and Toyo Ito that settled his sensibility for Japanese Architecture.

Founded in 2005, Rotor is a group of professionals interested in material flows in relation to resources, waste, use and reuse. Rotor’s approach consistently—and very often visually—emphasizes the effects of human planning, oversight, and extended use on the built environment. In parallel, dismantling and reselling activities are conducted under the heading of Rotor Deconstruction, a separate, spin-off entity created in 2014.