'MULTI' project - the book

The ‘Philips Tower’ – now known as Multi – was an imposing piece of functionalist architecture built in the centre of Brussels in 1968. It was designed following the modernist approach of that era: high-rise towers overhanging fast traffic lanes and built on the erasure of older urban fabric.

When Whitewood acquired the tower in 2015, they asked CONIX RDBM architects how to approach the renovation of this piece of modernist heritage. They suspected that reuse could be part of the answer, so Rotor asbl/vzw and Rotor DC were brought on board. The project team (also including Immobel and Cordeel) took the original building as a starting point, striving for a reconciliation with its architecture.

And reuse indeed played a role in the process. This notably included repurposing aluminium profiles salvaged from the façade, integrating 1970s reclaimed granite slabs into the lobby and reanimating the terrace with stones salvaged from various sources. We did our best to support the team by disassembling specific elements, suggesting designs, supplying and sourcing reusable materials, and organising logistics.

This project also marked our first attempt to quantify conservation and reuse efforts. By retaining much of the building’s structure and some of its finishes, the project team avoided the equivalent of 111.000 tonnes of rubble. However, the renovation still required 12.000 T of materials to be installed. The question then arose: how much of these materials could be substituted with reused ones? At some point during the process, the target of 2% (by weight) was set. Ultimately, we managed to reuse ~210 t, accounting for 1,7% of the total inflow. This figure emphasises the challenges associated with reuse in such contexts. It also stresses a key principle: reuse should not be confused with conservation. The preservation of existing buildings must always come first; salvage and reuse can only complement this approach.

All of the Multi project's experiments were thoroughly documented. The findings, both successes and failures, were richly illustrated and compiled in a book by Conix RDBM. Available at RotorDC.

Images of works ©Jasper Van der Linden