Skip navigation 
Previous Page
THE ENERGY FUTURE OF EXISTING BUILDINGS IN BRUSSELS: BETWEEN PRESERVATION AND PERFORMANCE
took precedence: intervention was minor, fast and economical. The difference in approach changes a Lot of things.
BACKGROUND TO THE TOWER'S RENOVATION
In 2009, the municipality of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean enjoyed the benefit of a new neighbourhood contract. The programme provides for the construction of around twenty passive homes in accordance with the decision taken by the municipality in 2007 to apply the passive standard to all its new buildings (fig. 3). These buildings were to be at the base of the tower which could not itself be renovated as part of the neighbourhood contract because such programmes are not generally intended for buildings owned by social housing companies. We could not, therefore, in principle, take action. However, we noted that the Molenbeek Social Housing Company had been concerned about what to do with the tower for several years. The standard two options presented themselves: renovation or demolition/ reconstruction, with the second option being strongly favoured. At our request, the Brussels-Capital Region agreed to a feasibility study being carried out, as part of the neighbourhood contract, to answer the simple question of whether or not to keep the tower.
This study was to be carried out in four phases, namely: a technical assessment; an analysis of options for restoration (renovation or demolition/reconstruction); the restoration programme itself; and a final report which could be added to the specifications for the architectural competition. After receiving tenders from three teams, the study was eventually awarded to the Paris-based architectural firm Lacaton-Vassal & Druot.
A few years before, the same firm had authored a work entitled Plus1which examined the merits of demolishing social housing tower blocks in the Paris suburbs. The firm had been shocked by the media coverage of the dynamiting of the towers which dramatically collapsed in front of a clapping audience which was most likely
Fig. 1
The Brunfaut tower (© K. Deruyter).
Fig. 2
Léopold II viaduct. Constructed in 1957, it was dismantled in 1984 and rebuilt in Bangkok in 1988 (Thai-Belgian-Bridge) (old postcard).
Fig. 3
Belle-Vue cinema neighbourhood contract (© municipality of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean)
87
