In Louvain-la-Neuve, 14,000 m² of offices are being renovated for Odoo, the client. The project is led by Chouettes Architectes, and the existing building is treated as a source of materials for the building to come.
Deconstruction here is selective: an inventory before dismantling, then sorting, then storage on the site, which remains in use throughout the works. Wanty carries out the demolition and coordinates this phase. Recymat collects the materials set aside for reuse: bricks, glazed partitions, cladding, steel sections.
This is reuse, not recycling: the elements go back into service as they are, without passing through industrial processing again.
The insulation is IsoFabric, a flexible insulation made in Brussels from recycled textiles.
The specified cladding is Platowood, certified Scandinavian poplar and spruce. A patented process using water and heat brings them up to durability class 1 to 2: the wood lasts more than 25 years outdoors without chemical additives.
The choice of materials for the internal partitions has not yet been settled. We will document it once it is decided, as we will the next stages of the works, on which Natura Mater acts as material adviser.
Our thanks to Odoo, to Chouettes Architectes, to JZH Partners for the structural engineering, to Wanty, to Recymat, and to the teams at IsoFabric and Platowood: a team that dismantles before it demolishes, and that puts the building's steel back into its own renovated structure.
Three pieces from the Magazine, around the same build-up.
Rammed earth and linen cladding in a Brussels commercial interior.
Recycled cork stopper granules, laid loose with no supporting structure, monitored by Buildwise.
A renovation in which a single layer insulates, withstands the weather and serves as cladding.