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Timber Engineering
Timber Engineering
14.063
Brussels,
Belgium
Rehabilitation of the social housing “Brunfaut” tower with maximum occuppancy.
This proposal maintains the existing steel structure, and extends the original volume by offseting the main facades and adding several floors on top. The existing 16-story tower will rise to 21-story with a height of 62m. These operations will provide a greater diversity of housing, a better urban integration and contemporary standards of comfort and safety
In order to keep the existing structure and foundations in state, the new floors onclude a truss structure which creates a bridge over the existing tower and drives new loads on the new facades. In order to reduce the self-weight of floors structure, there has been chosen to use exposed wood structure on the underside. Thus, 10,000m² of CLT panels are inserted into the existing steel structure. These panels are 160mm thick, ensuring a fire resistance of 90 minutes. They also provide a diaphragm effect on the 22 levels of the tower, allowing the tower to be stabilised in the wind by redirecting horizontal forces towards the central concrete core and the facade bracing. 4650m² of timber frame facade are also used in this renovation.
