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Project

RETROCO- Understanding and conserving the post-war housing stock in Brussels (1945-1975). Retrofit for continuity.(ikv Strategic Platform - ENVI-2012) (BRGEOZ219)

Before determining which concepts, materials or techniques to apply when retrofitting any existing building, one must first assess its economic, social, environmental, architectural, and heritage value. The strategies used to retrofit should respect a structure's significance: buildings of high value, in heritage terms, need special strategies, which strengthen the original ideas and qualities of the building. At the same time, buildings of lower significance, although old and durable, can be retrofitted in ways that differ from those required to protect high value buildings.

We propose to apply such an approach to the vast number of post-war single housing units, complexes and ensembles in Brussels. The majority of these buildings need retrofitting within the next decades, as original building systems deteriorate and expectations of occupants today, with respect to thermal and acoustical comfort, rises. Although these buildings are familiar and may not be considered appropriate for heritage protection, in fact, the early ones are now about 60 years old, and every year more will cross this threshold. Yet the framework to determine the heritage value of this post-war heritage is lacking. Establishing criteria to gauge the heritage value of the Brussels post-war housing will enable the building actors (architects, engineers and building contractors) to identify the qualities of the building, and to define a proper retrofit-strategy for a particular building or group. The new criteria will be implemented in the actual methodology as applied today by the Brussels Direction of Monuments and Sites.

The goal of this research is to offer criteria for evaluating the heritage value of post-war single housing units, complexes, and ensembles in the Brussels region, in order to identify levels of interventions that would be appropriate for them, according to their ranking.
Moreover, these post-war buildings are special in the amount of novel materials and assemblies they contain, as well as their architectural intent. As constructing affordable housing at high speed was high on the agenda during the post-war era, numerous innovations were made in the field of construction. Documenting these innovations, which relate to new building materials, and standardisation of products and processes, is not only important to assess the historical value, but vital to assess the retrofitting capacity. Moreover, unlike architecture of the 19th century and before, the intent of Modern Movement buildings was less permanent, their materials less precious. Thus, the standards for retrofitting even the most high-value may differ from those applying to more traditional buildings.

A second reason to focus on the post-war period is the possible applicability of new retrofit strategies like 'design to dismantle', 'design to recycle & re-use,' and 'zero-waste'. Indeed, post-war designers developed the concept of modular, prefabricated units and building elements. So these post-war dwellings may be suitable to be retrofitted according to strategies that rely on dismantling, re-using or upgrading of separate building elements. In reality, the ability to dismantle depends not only on the application of the modular concept in the architectural design, but mainly on the construction details and the applied connections. As a consequence, insights into the construction and building technology (load-bearing structure, composition floor and wall) of the Brussels post-war dwellings is necessary in order to develop appropriate interventions.
Date:1 Jan 2013 →  31 Dec 2014
Keywords:building techniques, Brussels, Housing, prefabrication, Postwar, construction history, methodology, Retrofit, Heritage
Disciplines:Civil and building engineering, Materials engineering