Zin in No(o)rd is the name of an innovative construction project that will repurpose the iconic WTC I and WTC II towers in the North Area in Brussels. The Flemish government will rent the office building and put specific circular criteria in her tender. The real estate company Belfimmo and Architects 51N4E, Jaspers-Eyers en l’AUC put these criteria to practice and the result is impressive. The '70s towers will not be demolished. They are regarded as a material bank and will be carefully deconstructed. This is constructing (for) the future. There is a short video about the project (in Dutch) that was shown on the Flemish news: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2020/11/17/circulair-bouwen-bouwafval-wordt-op-nooit-geziene-schaal-hergeb/
In terms of circularity, the existing buildings are being used to the maximum. The underground floors and the circulation cores will be preserved, but what will be demolished will be given a new lease of life. In total, this means that 62% of the current building will be reused or recycled. The parts that are broken down are given a new life – for instance, 30,000 tonnes of the broken concrete is going to be used as recycled granulates in the new concrete, and will be Cradle-to-cradle (C2C) certified.
Download the full casestudy here. (English)