Course on Structural Renovation Techniques
To create a direct link between the research performed at the department of Architectural Engineering and the educational program of The Master of Science in Architectural Engineering at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, special courses have been created. The course on 'Structural Renovation Techniques' is one of these.
Master students are asked to analyse the load bearing structure of a historical building, analyse connections, discover the original structure and distinguish them from later additions, predict possible short-comings, assess and recalculate the structure.
Students have worked on the glasshouse designed by Alphonse Balat in 1854 (Plantentuin Meise), and several buildings dating back from the turn of the century: roof trusses from theater Vermeulen in Schaerbeek, a bank building in Antwerp (1908), school Mabille in Brussels (1904-7) and the roof of the Slaughterhouse in Anderlecht (1889).