Brutally Honest, on why should we save ugly buildings
Research and Design Project of adaptive reuse and socio-architectural rehabilitation of Atlas Tower in Liège, Belgium
Z.M. Murzyn (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
E.I. Ronner – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
J.W. Lafeber – Mentor (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / AE+T)
S. Stalker – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Teachers of Practice / A)
Leeke Reinders – Mentor (TU Delft - Situated Architecture)
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Abstract
Unappreciated by the public, and ambiguous with its history, Brutalism has its followers, among designers and architects yet it is still a stylistic outcast. La tour de Droixhe, the high-rise at hand, thus, is seen not only as heritage but also as a lonely giant towering over the city of Liège, Belgium. This brutalist social housing development presents itself as an example of many other similar cases across Europe where brutalist buildings are met with discontent from the public and with growing mismanagement, they often face a certain demolition, therefore this project explored both within design and programme why should we save ugly buildings and how to change their fate. Taking on the original message of brutalism as an ethical approach, the project brings in the possibilities of enhancing social cohesion in the case of high-rise housing. Answering the challenges that living off-the-ground creates through designing clusters within the tower working on the premise of cooperative living. Humanising brutalism and reclaiming its aesthetics as unique and worth building on and upon.