Venezuela towers Luchtbal
The Antwerp district of Luchtbal has been a showcase of experiments in social housing for almost a century. Two outspoken ideological models of 'good housing' were abruptly juxtaposed: a compact garden suburb fragment from the 1920s and a campus consisting of modernist residential towers, courtyard blocks, row housing and longitudinal slabs built between the 1950s and 1970s. What clearly binds these urban fragments together is the 'collective' green character of the public domain: at the same time a quality for living and a fetter for those responsible for its management.
Although the neighborhood represented a high quality of living for decades, this has changed since the 1970s. The construction of the Antwerp ring road, the lack of local public amenities and infrastructural connections with the city centre, impoverishing demographics, and severe problems in public space management, among other things, are important interrelated factors leading to its less attractive reputation.
Over the past two decades, however, Woonhaven and City of Antwerp have taken important initiatives to turn the tide. New buildings and public programs restructure and enhance control and the quality of in-between spaces. Outdated apartment buildings that no longer meet contemporary housing requirements are renovated or demolished and rebuilt. The well-known Venezuela towers, designed in the 1950s by architect Hugo Van Kuyck and clearly visible when driving along E19, also no longer met current standards in terms of fire safety, energy, and living comfort. After a competition, POLO was appointed to develop an outstanding renovation scenario.
A subtle transformation
An important point of attention was the desire to preserve the iconic architectural quality of the six tower buildings. Energetic performances and living comfort had to be radically improved, but the facade image - with its rather sterile brick architecture, rhythmized with horizontally aligned concrete terraces - had to be affected as little as possible. POLO developed a renovation concept that largely preserves that image. The facades were stripped and thoroughly insulated and provided with similar new brickwork.
In addition, the existing terraces on the eastern and western facades of 4 towers were subtly transformed into winter gardens. These form an intermediate space between inside and outside, with, in addition to a greatly increased residential quality, also a thermal and acoustic buffer against Luchtbal’s harsh environment with its traffic and ambient noise.
Winter gardens
While the exterior has remained mainly untouched, the interventions inside the towers are more clearly legible. Originally, each of the eighteen floors contained four apartments, with the exception of the top level. After the renovation, there will be a total of 71 apartments.
The entrance halls are completely renovated to provide generous access. Large glass elements on opposite facades strengthen the relationship with the ground level and connect the space with the green environment – an original feature that was preserved. The entrance hall, doorbells and mailboxes were reorganized and the spaces next to the entrance hall were transformed to optimize bicycle storage.
An important intervention involved the double-height plinth. There used to be four compact studios on the mezzanine floor. To enhance their quality, these units were linked to the apartments above them to create duplexes with bedrooms on the lower level and living areas upstairs.
The configuration in the other apartments was also thoroughly refined. An important intervention was the addition of winter gardens, improving both living quality, energy performances and fire safety. The original design also featured a small balcony adjacent to the kitchens with room for the rubbish bins and a small outdoor storage room. These balconies have now been transformed into a bay window that is an integral part of the interior of the apartment. The storage room and boiler room, previously located in the communal hall, have been privatized and rearranged as a buffer space between the kitchen and bathroom.
