Restoration and repurposing

This project concerns the restoration and repurposing of Leuven's historic Town Hall located in the project area bounded by Grote Markt, Naamsestraat and Boekhandelstraat.

Starting in 1433, a full-fledged Grand Place emerged in Leuven surrounded by three prestigious public buildings: Town Hall, Tafelrond and St. Peter's Church.

Ingenium advised on technical concepts and creative solutions in the context of the heritage framework of the town hall. Ingenium took on the challenge of matching the technical requirements with the preconditions of the heritage framework. We guided the city of Leuven, the client, through the entire construction cycle, from preliminary design to final delivery. Support was also provided in additional side studies such as hygrothermal simulations of the museum hall, energy audit, separate tendering process for the building management system, etc.

The 15th-century town hall is being equipped with 21st-century technology. With the help of BEO drilling and a water-water heat pump, heating and cooling can be extracted from the ground. In addition, thermoslates are also used for energy generation under the slate roof of the Voorhuis without any visual impact. Through intelligent selection of combined delivery systems, often installed invisibly, the town hall can be heated at a low temperature without affecting its heritage value.

The City Hall is also undergoing a complete transformation in terms of electrical systems, moving towards an automated and digitized environment. The GBS is used to collect sensor data, manage access rights on and off the museum route, create lighting scenes, monitor maintenance, and much more.

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Hygrothermal simulations

As part of the renovation and repurposing project for Leuven’s historic city hall, hygrothermal simulations were conducted for the exhibition space(s) on the third floor of the Voorhuis. The goal is to weigh various design options and evaluate their impact on fluctuations in the environmental parameters of temperature and relative humidity within these museum spaces. Among other things, the impact of the hygroscopic properties of lime plaster and lime hemp was investigated.

The simulations are performed in DesignBuilder. For the simulations, the EMPD (Effective Moisture Penetration Depth) model is used for the moisture-related portion of the simulations. A base model and four scenarios were developed in consultation. Two preferred scenarios were further investigated to examine the effects of nighttime ventilation (free cooling) and variations in heating setpoints.

Ultimately, a design featuring rock wool insulation, a lime plaster finish, and nighttime ventilation was proposed. This solution was energy-efficient and resulted in only minor short-term fluctuations in relative humidity. It also helped smooth out long-term peaks in relative humidity.

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