RESEARCH BY DESIGN AS METHOD FOR THE REGENERATION OF POST-WAR MODERNIST HOUSING ENSEMBLES

Abstract

This paper is written in the light of a larger PhD research entitled BELGIAN MOMO HERITAGE ON THE RADAR – ‘Re-reading modernist housing estates: an inquiry into the value of threatened heritage sites and the possibilities of adaptive reuse as a method for re-evaluation’. Today, a considerable number of the urban settlements or high-rise estates, constructed according to Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) principles, are threatened with demolition following years of neglect and lack of maintenance. Notwithstanding the fact that they are all comprising discursive segments of the post-war time period, these estates are in poor (technical and social) condition. Additionally, none of them is protected, which means that the path for demolition is fully open. This research opens up some future visions by considering these ensembles as an opportunity to re-state and re-invest, instead of regarding them as an inescapable problem. The concept of research by design is used as a methodology to develop new insights. Within the framework of the PhD research architecture master students have tested the hypotheses of different regeneration scenarios on a larger scale of 13 case studies. The aim is to investigate the adaptive reuse potential of this modernist typology. This paper focuses on one of the case studies, specifically the Jan De Voslei housing complex designed by architect Jos Smolderen (Antwerp, BE). In the first part of the paper the general problem statement is introduced. In the second part, the objective of the exercise is explored, and an overview of the regeneration scenarios is explained. Subsequently, the students’ results that focus on an activation of the landscape values and the so-called parasite-concept of the Jan De Voslei housing complex are presented through drawings and isometries. In conclusion, these first outcomes of this exercise are discussed combined with a reflection and suggestion for further research.