6 juni 2023
CBBW-woning in Testaankoop
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Gwen Verlinden, architect (design) of the CBBW house and initiator of the CBBW research project, was interviewed by Testaankoop about the CBBW house. Read the full article here.
August 17, 2022
Podcast Climate Festival 2022
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On the occasion of the Climate Festival 2022, Margaux Lespagnard (VUB) and Gwen Verlinden (TEKEN architectuur), together with Julia Alegre Mouslim and Maïté de Haan (Troebel), philosophized about the future of sustainable and affordable living. You can listen to the podcast here. We talked about what we learned from the Circular Building Affordable Housing project. The Climate Festival will take place from 12 to 16 October 2022 in Antwerp and is organized by Troebel, a philosophical platform that creates clarity in a murky world.
March 18 and May 10 and 12, 2022
Seminaries Howest, UHasselt, UGent
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The lessons learned from Circular Building Affordable Living were presented to architecture students, interior design and construction during three seminaries. In May we were also able to share the financial conclusions that Margaux Lespagnard calculated based on a comparative LCC study. From this we learned that circular construction can yield significant, financial gains in the long term.
March 23, 2021
Webinar closing event C-bouwers
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Bond Beter Leefmilieu, VIBE, VUB Architectural Engineering, BAS Bouwen and Dialoog have been working on a database and online platform to showcase circular building materials and a selection of exemplary projects. All for and by professionals in the building sector. Architectural designer and research leader Gwen Verlinden was invited to explain which circular building materials and design principles were used in the case study house of the CBBW project. (presentation in Dutch)
February 25, 2021
Ready for evaluation
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Construction work on the case study house is almost completed. The house is now inhabited by the residents.
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During the following fase we will be assessing the degree of circularity as well as the financial cost of the case study house.
January 14, 2021
Making a mini documentary
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Due to the corona pandemic we can't invite visitors to the construction site as plannend. That is why we are making a mini documentary to actively share our learning lessons with you in a coronaproof way. The video will include several interviews explaining how the house is built, which circular principles are used and the impact this has on the cost.
December 14, 2020
Circular brickwork
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Most Flemish facades today are still characterised by traditional brickwork. Often the existing context does not allow for an integration of more contemporary facade finishes, or urban planning restrictions simply won't allow it. To meet both the circular ambitions and the urban planning regulations, we employ a dry stack wall system in the case study house. The bricks are stacked on top of each other without mortar, making them reusable and composing a completely homogeneous wall: no other materials are mixed, so that the material flow can be more easily reused or, if the former is not possible, recycled.
December 12, 2020
Cork: insulation and cladding in one
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Using cork as thermal insulation as well as exterior cladding for the facade, the outer shell of the building is homogeneous, reducing building complexity which reduces costs and simplifies the future deconstruction process. To insure technical performance the facade could not be mechanically mounted completely but had to be partially glued. The team came up with a twofold solution: the adhesive would be based in lime instead of cement and the cork would be mounted in different layers, safeguarding the inner cork layers from the adhesive hence preserving the possibility of 1 on 1 reuse for 45% of the facade and 100% potential for recyclage.
December 5, 2020
Urban mining: reuse of materials
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Although not the primary focus of the project, we had the opportunity to reuse some of the building materials from a demolition site five kilometers south of the construction site where a part of the campus of the University of Antwerp had to be rebuilt. Some interior elements, such as doors, sinks, mirrors, faucets and electrical outlets and switches, were salvaged. Exterior elements proved to be more challenging, but the team succeeded in deconstructing the wall base plinth of one of the campus buildings and reusing it in the case study house.
November 25, 2020
Windows and doors
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Conceiving a circular and affordable solution for the windows and doors proved to be challenging. Using a system with two independent frames could provide the possibility of replacement and hence adaptability, but this would drive up the cost by 15 to 20%. Eventually powder-coated aluminum joinery with triple glazing was chosen. This system met the future residents's wishes (little to no maintenance) while scoring highest in the Life Cycle Analysis of the NIBE (Netherland Institute for Building Biology and Ecology).
17 - 20 November 2020
Waterproofing and insulating the roof
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The goal was to waterproof and insulate the roof in such a way that the used materials could be easily disassembled in case of demolotion. The main concern was that the waterproofing would demand chemical adhesives in order to guarantee technical performance. The adhesives that could inhibit a circular construction proved only necessary on the outer edges of the roof, meaning most of the roof could be quite easily be designed for disassembly. The construction consists of a solid wooden support structure, a vapour barrier, wood fiber insulation, EPDM waterproofing and gravel (ballast). Because the construction is already widely used and does not require expensive adhesives or sealants it is generally considered as the most cost-efficient solution.
November 13, 2020
Virtual tour for university students
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Due to the corona epidemic, the students of the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences could not visit the construction site of the circular case study as initially planned. This is why we decided to organise a virtual tour. We thank professor Davy Stoobants and his students for the interesting questions and inspiring curiosity!