Magazine: Hotel in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean
The new branch of the German chain of budget hotels, Meininger, is located on the banks of the Canal de Bruxelles-Charleroi, which demarcates the Western edge of the city centre of Brussels. The building served as the headquarters of the Belle-Vue brewery from its erection in 1916 until 2005, when the operations eventually shut down. In the course of the conversion, A2M Architectes carried out an ambitious energy-efficient refurbishment of the building, lowering its heating demand from about 300 kWh/m²a to a mere 29 kWh/m²a. The airtightness of the building envelope was improved by a factor of 20 to 0.41 h-1. Alongside the former brewery, a nine-storey residential tower was erected, which comprises of 14 residential units that meet the Passive House Standard. The old brewery was not a listed building but the authorities requested that its character be retained. Hence, the 20-cm-thick insulation layer (cellulose between timber posts) and the new windows (triple-glazed with timber/aluminium frames) are all located on the inside of the facades. Unplastered brick walls and unpainted concrete beams and ceilings have been preserved throughout the interior, including in the corridors and the 150 – rather spacious – rooms. The hotel is equipped with a centralized MVHR system with 75% heat recovery, which also supplies 90% of the required heating to the rooms. The remaining 10% is covered by small radiators. In summer, the spaces can also be (adiabatically) cooled via incoming air. A 1000-m² photovoltaic array has been installed on the roof, which is expected to cover one-third of the primary energy demand of the building.
