Sustainable adaptive reuse of modernistic post-war office towers

Abstract

In this research, the dilemmas of modernist architecture will be illustrated by means of concrete post-war office towers, and solutions will be suggested how a transition towards adaptive reuse is possible. To highlight best practices, two office towers in Antwerp, the EBES building and the BP building, both designed by the famous modernistic architect Léon Stynen, are compared. These towers are remarkable examples of modernist architecture and have divergent significances in the oeuvre of Stynen’s architecture. The BP tower, for instance, demonstrates the first suspension construction in reinforced concrete in Europe. The main research question was: What are sustainable transformation and adaptive reuse strategies for postwar modernist office buildings and how can these strategies be applied in practice without harming the uniqueness of these building? This research addresses typological, topological, tectonic and tactic dimensions in relationship with sustainable reuse in order to discover the present values of these projects.