THE ENERGY FUTURE OF EXISTING BUILDINGS IN BRUSSELS: BETWEEN PRESERVATION AND PERFORMANCE

made extensive use of modulation and standardisation. Furthermore, Van Der Meeren should be viewed as a total-concept designer.

Before discussing the renovation, it is important to identify and acknowledge the characteristics of this building. The characteristics have been grouped into eight themes:

The first characteristic is that the building very clearly illustrates “new communal living principles”. It is a high-rise building. Willy Van Der Meeren described his building as “streets in the sky”, as can be seen in figure 5 as well as in the cross-section (fig. 6). He designed wide circulation corridors which can be found on every third floor. This gave people the chance to meet one another, thus emphasising the “streets in the sky” concept. The advantage here is that the apartments span from façade to façade, which allows natural light to saturate the homes. The roof terrace is typical of that period, along with a large variety of public functions and collective facilities, such as a mortuary, a relaxation room and a laundry room.

A second characteristic: “the ideas about modern living”. The building is built on stilts. All of the homes receive a great deal of natural light, which Van Der Meeren achieved by bringing in diagonal light. The homes could be seen as the predecessor to open-plan living. He also wanted to integrate an open kitchen, but the time was not yet ripe.

Another characteristic: “simple and affordable”. Van Der Meeren created a type of Meccano system with doorways of reinforced concrete supporting the arches. The entirety was sealed using façade panels and all that was left to do was to add a layer of paint.

The following characteristic is “the hierarchical construction of plan and façade”. In other words, the façade is a translation of the plan behind it. For example, the bedrooms have three windows at the top of the wall, the kitchens have

Fig. 1

Le Logis and Foréal, Watermaal-Bosvoorde (A. de Ville de Goyet © GOB).

Fig. 2

De Moderne Wijk, Samenwerkersplein, Sint-Agatha-Berchem (© Origin).

Fig. 3

Modelwijk, Laken (A. de Ville de Goyet © GOB).

Fig. 4

Ieder Zijn Huis, Evere. The east façade, almost completely renovated (© G. De Kinder).

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