The project brief
An info-booth for Antwerp’s Masterplan
In the next decade, Antwerp will undergo a major overhaul to improve transport facilities. A passing highway will be constructed to a completely closed ring road; tramways will be expanded; quarters of the old city will be revived by combining restoration activities with a balanced input of new architecture.
In order to keep the citizens updated on the progress of the Masterplan’s projects, an info-booth had to be designed. Special attention should be given to its modularity and to its capacity of being totally self supporting in terms of energy and waste.
Construction system and energy efficiency
The initial concept of a modular prefabricated system evolved into one of a segmented building package. The latter offered interesting possibilities regarding extensibility, interior arrangement and positioning of glazed surfaces and entrances.
Sufficient energy supply was provided by solar cells, the orientation and inclination of which could be easily optimized on the building’s flat roof. The installation of a composting toilet avoided the transport of waste. Rain water, collected on site, was used for flushing.
An autonomous building
Detail of construction modularity
The load bearing construction consisted of easy-to- assemble steel SADEF®-profiles, ideally combining a large load bearing capacity at low weight.
Moreover, all parts and modules were dimensioned in a way to not exceed a maximum weight of 90 kilograms (200 lbs.) each.This concept would allow a crew of three workers to construct or reconstruct the building in a short time span and using lightweight machinery.
Ecological principles
A maximum energy consumption of 40 kWh/m2 per year was put forward.This objective could be reached by using phenolic foam insulation in the solid wall panels and by selecting glass panels following the German standard for passive house windows (U-value: 0.60 W/m2K).
The modular structure allows indefinite extensibility. In order to represent the possibilities, a basic model is presented here, measuring 8.5 by 21 meters. Compactness and a relatively high wall/window ratio let the expected energy consumption decrease to 30 kWh/m2 per year.
