The hanging terraces of Woluwe Valley
Woluwe Valley's large-scale conversion rehabilitates a 90's office building into a contemporary residential complex with commercial functions at its base. A complex building with challenging problematics, this project deploys numerous creative solutions to give this abandoned building a new look, and a renewed life.
Carried out in two phases in order to maintain the existing commercial activity, the transformation aims to offer qualitative living spaces through new bright apartments with front and rear views. Adding outdoor space to all residential units, the conversion equips the façades with generous terraces hanging on the building’s structural matrix. A major challenge for which T-shaped “ladders” were engineered in close collaboration with Koen Van Nevel from COBE (stability studies) and Enjoy Concrete (Architectural Concrete). Designed to support and transfer the prefabricated balconies’ weight, the “ladders” are anchored to the structural columns behind the façade.
The colonnades, railing, linear balconies and multiple textures in monochromatic tones break the monolithic volume of the building and give a floating sensation to the newly added shell. Their subtle rhythm variation contribute to the building’s visual identity and help differentiate the residential levels from the commercial ones below.
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