Date Type: Rehabilitación

Transformation of Tour Bois-le-Prêtre Housing Block

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Transformation of Tour Bois-le-Prêtre Housing Block

Urban Design Services and infrastructure Quality Inclusion

Main objectives of the project

This 16-storey high-rise block in Paris was transformed instead of being demolished. New flooring was added to each level, creating closable terraces for winter gardens and balconies. The apartments were improved with more natural light and energy efficiency. The small windows were replaced with large openings for panoramic views. The entrance hall was refurbished, removing unnecessary rooms and making it open and transparent. Collective activity areas and lifts were added, and prefabricated construction allowed residents to stay during renovations.

Date

  • 2011: Rehabilitación

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Lacaton & Vassal architectes
  • Architect: Frédéric Druot Architecture; 

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Paris
Country/Region: France, Paris

Description

Built in the early 60s along the ring road on the northern periphery of Paris, this high-rise block of 16 storeys contains 96 apartments. Instead of demolition, which was the first option that was considered, a project of transformation of the existing building was decided upon.The project proposed a generous expansion of the apartments. On each level, new flooring, which was built as a self-supporting structure, was added onto the entire periphery of the tower. This design strategy allowed for the extension of all the rooms by creating closable terraces that could act as winter gardens as well as balconies for each unit.

At the same time the overall quality and comfort of the apartments was improved with additional natural light and the reduction of energy consumption for heating. The existing facades with their small windows were removed and they were replaced by large transparent openings so that the residents can enjoy the exceptional panoramic views over Paris. The entrance hall on the ground floor was refurbished and it was made level with the exterior. All the useless rooms and installations were removed in order to make the entryway an open and transparent space through which the new garden can be accessed. On the sides of this space, areas for collective activities were established and two lifts were installed to improve the vertical circulation to the apartments. The construction was carried out with prefabricated elements so that the inhabitants could remain in the apartments during the renovation of the building.

Authors:

DeFlat Kleiburg

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DeFlat Kleiburg

Urban Design Environments Liveability Equity

Main objectives of the project

De Flat is a groundbreaking renovation of Kleiburg, one of the largest apartment buildings in the Netherlands. It consists of 500 apartments, spanning 400 meters in length and 10 + 1 stories high. Consortium De FLAT saved the building from demolition by transforming it into a Klusflat, where residents renovate their own apartments. Kleiburg is located in the Bijlmermeer, an Amsterdam residential expansion influenced by CIAM.

The renovation focused on preserving the main structure while leaving the apartments unfinished, creating a new housing business model in the Netherlands. Instead of individualizing and differentiating the building, the goal was to embrace unity and revitalize the entire structure. Concrete additions were removed, restoring the original horizontal balusters and opening up the facade. Sandblasting revealed the beauty of the pre-cast concrete balusters.

The storage spaces were relocated to each floor, freeing up the ground level for social activities and integrating the building with the surrounding park. Double-height connections were created to enhance scenic relationships. Energy-saving motion detectors were used for gallery illumination, allowing the individual apartments to shine.

Overall, De Flat showcases the intrinsic beauty of the building, emphasizing unity, and creating a unique housing concept.

Date

  • 2016: Rehabilitación

Stakeholders

  • Architect: XVW architectuur
  • Architect: NL Architects

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Amsterdam
Country/Region: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Description

De Flat is an innovative renovation of one of the biggest apartment buildings in the NL called Kleiburg, a bend slab with 500 apartments, 400 meter long, 10 + 1 stories high. Consortium De FLAT rescued the building from the wracking ball by turning it into a Klusflat meaning that the inhabitants renovate their apartments by themselves. Kleiburg is located in the Bijlmermeer, a CIAM inspired residential expansion of Amsterdam.

A renewal operation started mid nineties. Many of the characteristic honeycomb slabs were replaced by suburban substance, by ‘normality’.

Kleiburg was the last building in the area still in its original state; in a way it is the “last man standing in the war on modernism”.

The idea is to renovate the main structure -elevators, galleries, installations- but to leave the apartments unfinished and unfurnished: no kitchen, no shower, no heating, no rooms. This minimizes the initial investments and as such creates a new business model for housing in the Netherlands.

Most attempts to renovate residential slabs in the Bijlmer had focused on differentiation. The objective: to get rid of the uniformity, to ‘humanize’ the architecture. By many, repetition was perceived as evil.

But after three decades of individualization, fragmentation, atomization it seems an attractive idea to actually strengthen unity: Revamp the Whole!

It is time to embrace what is already there, to reveal and emphasize the intrinsic beauty, to Sublimize! In the eighties three shafts had been added including extra elevators: they looked ‘original’ but they introduced disruptive verticality. It turned out that these concrete additions could be removed: the elevators could actually be placed inside the cores, the brutal beauty of the horizontal balusters could be restored.

On the galleries the division between inside and outside was rather defensive: closed, not very welcoming. The closed parts of the facade were replaced with double glass. By opening-up the facade the ‘interface’ becomes a personal carrier of the identity of the inhabitants, even with curtains closed…

Sandblasting the painted balusters revealed the sensational softness of the pre-cast concrete: better than travertine!

Originally the storage spaces for all the units were located on ground level. The impenetrable storerooms created a ‘dead zone’ at the foot of the building. By positioning the storage on each floor we could free up the ground floor for inhabitation, activating it to create a social base and embedding the ‘beast’ in the park.

More generous, double height connections between both sides of the building were formed creating scenic relationships.

Gallery illumination has a tendency to be very dominant in the perception of apartment buildings with single loaded access. The intensity of the lamps that light up the front doors on the open-air corridors overrules the glow of the individual units. The warm ‘bernstein’ radiance of the apartments is ‘obscured’ by a screen of cold lights. But what if the gallery lights worked with energy saving motion detectors? The individual units now define the appearance. Every passer-by a shooting star!

Authors:

Social Housing Rehabilitation in El Pópulo

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Social Housing Rehabilitation in El Pópulo

Urban Design

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2007: Rehabilitación

Stakeholders

  • Architect: MGM morales-giles-mariscal

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Cadiz
Country/Region: Cádiz, Spain

Description

The programme was to rehabilitate an old building with multiple historical layers in the centre of Cádiz, which was already occupied by several families.In order to provide these families with decent housing while at the same time conserve the morphology of the building, the design strategy focused on the refurbishment of the ground and first floors, above which the new architecture took shape. Other conditioning factors such as maintenance of the net floor area and the facade height, led to the development of five apartment units with space for the neighbourhood association on the ground floor and set-back attic additions on the roof. An offshoot of the building that connects to the plaza adjacent to the cathedral has recuperated its street-like character and is now a two-storey private street, which like the patio, has large windows of varying shapes and sizes with movable plywood shutters, creating an interior urban landscape.

Authors:

Fabra & Coats & Social Housing

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Fabra & Coats & Social Housing

Urban Design

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2019: Rehabilitación

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Roldán+Berengué, arqts.

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Barcelona
Country/Region: Barcelona, Spain

Description

The transformation project of the warehouse building of the old industrial complex of Fabra & Coats in Barcelona is included in the process of reconversion of this textile complex of the XIX and XX centuries to incorporate it to the "BCN creation factories" network.
The intervention in the building activates all the elements of the original building creating the new program, and reuses its physical, spatial and historical qualities to make the new construction more efficient and to reinforce the character of the original building.

The original building is 100m long, where the first decision was to bring the value of its maximum dimension, which is the length. We access through the center creating an interior square where the promenade of the interior stairs begins in diagonal double ascending. The original building is communicated physically and visually from the ground level until the roof structure. This vestibule also connects the building to Parellada Street and the Fabra & Coats complex square. This new communal space is the new structural contribution to the original building.

The new construction is by assemblage, it is a dry construction with just few materials, as in the original industrial building. Wood is used in all its forms: solid, agglomerated, cross laminated… Materials are joined as if it was a textile. To sew and un-sew, the new construction by its character and assemblage, can be assembled and disassembled, so it is “reversible”. The building, in the future, as a heritage element, can return to its original form of 1905, and the material used in its construction can be recycled.

Structural reuse of the two inner floors of the building, using them without any reinforcement (load capacity of 1,100kg/m2) to support on both floors the two new levels of housing. We convert two floors into four, to reach this we use a wooden structure, because it is 5 times lighter than a steel structure. The wooden frame structure is a translation of the old steel structures used as shelves for the storage of the threads.

Façade and roof of the building as a thermic buffer for the housing units. The new housing units are placed separated from the façade and the original roof of the building, with a new wooden façade.

The in-between space is created to circulate the air; therefore, the housing units do not require the air conditioning the most part of the year. The 45cm brick wall and the ceramic tile roof of the original building provide its thermal and shading properties to the new interior building, while maintaining its presence as an interior façade of the communal spaces. In this in-between space are the inner streets to access to the houses, identifying the old path of the thread packages through the crane bridge and the conveyor belts. The former textile complex of Fabra & Coats in Barcelona, built between the 19th and 20th centuries, is being gradually recovered to incorporate it into the “BCN creation factories” network. More than 28,000m2 in public buildings and social housing will be added to the Sant Andreu neighborhood.

One side of the building, the result of an extension on 1950, has been destined for the headquarters of the “Colla Castellera Jove” in Barcelona. The adjacent building, 100 m long, has been transformed into a complex of 46 social housing units.

To configure the main space, the training room for human towers (10x10x10 m), is based on the analysis of human towers: pyramidal structures that work, ideally, with pure compression. Due to their operation, they fill the space, creating an empty space around them.

The new structure is conceived in a complementary way to a human tower: it works like a shell, creating an empty space inside. The upper floor under roof is a three-dimensional suspended structure that does not make its operation evident.

The project combines for the first time the rehabilitation of industrial heritage, the creation of social housing and wood construction. The elastic joints of the new elements resolve the compatibility between the two constructions and achieve acoustic comfort in homes that is higher than the standard.

Conditions
Minimum dimensions in construction solutions
Economic limit: PEM € 1,021 / m2
Reversible construction in response to equity

Implemented solutions
Light construction
Activate the building
Elastic joints in new construction

Achievements:
Rehabilitation in place of new construction:
Reduction of consumption in construction
Reduced demand in operation

Links

Authors:

Soft urban renewal in Vienna, Austria

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Soft urban renewal in Vienna, Austria

Mismatches
Policies and regulations
Urban Design
Promotion and production

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2010: Rehabilitación

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Vienna Housing Rehabilitation

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Vienna
Country/Region: Austria, Vienna

Description

Soft urban renewal, implemented under the 1984 Vienna Housing Rehabilitation Act, is a non-disruptive approach that avoids demolishing historic buildings or displacing residents. It focuses on financial incentives for private homeowners and follows a decentralized and participatory method for building and neighborhood improvements. The emphasis is on improving housing standards without causing social segregation or gentrification. The scheme has successfully reduced substandard housing from 320,000 to less than 125,000 units through rehabilitation efforts. It has created affordable rehabilitated housing without changing ownership, resulting in over 715,000 fully equipped apartments. The approach prioritizes affordability, social inclusion, and the needs of vulnerable households. Redevelopment is managed by district offices, supported by private architects or non-profit building associations and funded by the city. These offices collaborate with tenants and owners to enhance housing stock, including green courtyards and communal facilities, while promoting connections to public transport. There are currently 13 district offices that actively involve vulnerable and socially marginalized households with the support of city funds. It is considered “soft” or ”gentle” as it does not involve the demolition of historic buildings or the construction of entirely new urban areas, nor does it displace and compulsorily rehouse residents living in renewal areas.

Legislated under the 1984 Vienna Housing Rehabilitation Act, the soft urban renewal created financial renovation incentives for private homeowners and was implemented through a decentralized and participatory approach to building and neighbourhood improvement.

Much effort has since gone towards improving housing standards, while avoiding social segregation and gentrification. The urban renewal has involved strategic subsidization of private housing rehabilitation, rather than the demolition of historic buildings. Public authorities first look at bringing empty flats into use and developing communal areas and then later address whole blocks of flats and creating new urban areas.[3] An evaluation of this scheme in 2010 found that soft renewal had made substantial improvements to living conditions in Vienna. From 1984 to 2001, through rehabilitation, houses that were categorised as substandard were substantially reduced – from approximately 320,000 (39 per cent of the total stock) to less than 125,000.

The renewal activities produced a large stock of affordable rehabilitated housing with avoiding a forced change of ownership or occupancy. One important result was the avoidance of social segregation and gentrification. A total of 2,160 buildings with 142,000 apartments were improved as part of the process of soft renewal and the number of fully equipped apartments rose from about 328,000 to more than 715,000.[1]

Notably, limited profit affordable housing is in relatively good condition, in part due to the business model which funds it that requires regular maintenance and periodic renovation. Chapter II on funding and financing affordable and inclusive housing has extensively elaborated on this matter. The soft renewal approach, which is both decentralized and interdisciplinary, prioritises affordability and social inclusion objectives, avoids forced change of ownership and enables rehabilitated housing to remain affordable to existing occupants. Particular attention is given to the needs of vulnerable households (the elderly and new migrants).

The redevelopment is managed by offices in each city district. These are run by either private architects or non-profit building associations and are financed by the city. They work with both tenants and owners to improve the housing stock; for example, by enhancing green courtyards, and making proposals for communal facilities and connections to public transport. There are now 13 district offices (Gebietsbetreuungen) which can also apply for city funds to involve vulnerable or socially marginalised households more actively.

Links

Authors:

Groningen, Netherlands

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Groningen, Netherlands

Groningen, Netherlands

Main objectives of the project

The 'Super-Shell' housing system offers maximum freedom for personalization. The houses are sold empty, providing only the structure and facades, allowing users to choose the position of installations within the house. This strategy empowers users to become the architects of their own homes, increasing personalization possibilities. The system offers seven different layouts printed on transparent paper, allowing users to combine and choose the most suitable configuration for their lifestyle. A catalog of facade types is also provided to enhance personalization based on light, views, and open-air spaces. The exterior personalization reflects the contrast between individual and collective identity, while avoiding the uniformity of the first modernity housing system. Additionally, a nine-story tower with flexible housing typology, including apartments for people with disabilities, was added to the project, along with new public spaces.

Date

  • 2012: Rehabilitación

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Casanova+Hernández architects

Location

Continent: Europe
City: Groningen
Country/Region: Groningen, Netherlands

Description

The ‘Super-Shell’ houses system provides the user maximum level of freedom to personalize his house. The house is sold completely empty, offering only the structure and the facades, without any installations or rooms inside. Three strategically holes located in the floors allow the user to choose the position of the installations within the house after bying it. In this project several strategies have been applied to allow the personalization of the houses:

By choosing this strategy, the house is thought and designed by the user under certain frame conditions. The user becomes the architect of his house in the same way he is becoming nowadays the architect of his own life.

The possibility of placing kitchen, toilets and bathrooms in very different positions, combined with the flexibility of choosing the position for the rest of the rooms, increases enormously the number of possible layouts of the house and its level of personalization.

Another strategy tested in this project to offer a wide range of possibilities to personalize the houses, has been to provide seven different layouts of ground floors, first floors and second ones printed on transparent paper. The user has been able to combine the transparent papers to decide which layout suits better his way of living.
In total 343 layouts are possible with this system.

A catalogue of different façade types has also been provided to personalize further the house in order to satisfy the interior necessities of light, views and possible open air spaces.

On the one hand the personalization of the exterior of the house reinforces the contrast between individual and collective identity and reflects the social conflict between individualization and society. On the other hand the personalization of the house avoids the typical result of the housing system of the first modernity according to which every family had the same identical dwelling with the same appearance.

The nine-storey tower added during the development process, contains 16 apartments for people with disabilities +25 apartments, with a super-flexible housing typology and with some new public spaces.

Links

Authors: