Building affordable housing in a cost-effective way
This week, DDS+ had the opportunity to share its experience in building affordable housing at a conference organized by Inclusio. Partner Geert Vanoverschelde spoke about the topic through Pléiades 71, a former office building transformed into affordable housing (AIS) that manages to meet the challenges of an economic construction without compromising on the quality of its spaces.
The use of existing buildings, renovation and maximum conservation of built structures are strategies that help rationalize and significantly reduce the costs of any construction. By following these principles, the existing building in Pléiades 71 becomes the starting point of the project and its structure dictates the new configuration: Single-faced apartments are preferred in order to preserve circulation cores and openings; Balconies are only added in the curtain wall facade areas as the other apartments are compensated with generous outdoor common spaces; Existing window frames are preserved and equipped with new opening window frames; The spacing of the roof frame is exploited to embed dormers... The project maximizes the existing building structure as much as possible.
In addition, several elements and materials (office partitions, doors, false floors...) were recovered during the construction to be reused on other sites. Laureate of the be.circular 2019 award, this renovation project demonstrates both economic and circular qualities.
Discover more about Pléiades 71.
