The complex will have two residential towers: one of twenty floors and one of seven, both with shops on the ground floor. A third, smaller building will have a catering function. An underground car park connects the three. At sixty-seven metres, the Hero Tower will be one of the tallest towers on the Belgian coast.

Urban development plan

This project is part of the urban development plan 'Redevelopment Inkom van Heist', which consists of the redevelopment of Heroesplein with the construction of an underground car park, the reconstruction of Vissershuldeplein, and the transformation of Elizabetlaan into a pleasant promenade. In this, the Heldentoren will form an architectural beacon that connects, strengthens local identity and attracts new investment.

Structural design challenges

The modular façade construction where the external joinery is in the plane of the ceramic façade presented some technical challenges.

We developed specific solutions to anchor the exterior joinery to the underlying concrete structure without compromising the continuity of the thermal envelope.

The dimensions of all façade elements were carefully matched during several coordination rounds. The curved shapes in the floor plan presented an additional complexity during execution to correctly monitor all alignments. The elegant appearance of the façade is the result of a thorough coordination of the various components.

BIM

For the Heldentoren in Knokke, we modelled the BIM model architecture. The BIM model stability was created by stability consultancy Stedec, the BIM model techniques by Boydens.
Four sub-models were modelled for the architecture discipline: a high-rise building, a medium-rise building, a low-rise building and an underground car park.

The high-rise is a 67 m-high tower with 19 floors and has 37 flats.
The total gross floor area of all buildings is 8,112 m².
The two-storey car park covers a total of 5030 m².
The buildings have an unusual footprint.
The many curved elements in the project posed an additional modelling challenge.
19,564 elements were automatically measured in the BIM model.

Building on the coast poses separate challenges in terms of building techniques. How are the typical ingredients of the coastal climate: sand, wind and corrosion taken from design to practice? The importance of calculating wind loads on roofs cannot be overestimated on the coast. Not even for the Heldentoren:

"It is always an exciting experience where practice does not always follow theory," clarifies our project architect Elien Coppitters. "The Heldentoren, a triple-building project with high-rise buildings, pushed our office to its limits. The result is a beautiful residential area with unique views of the beach and hinterland. We were able to overcome the wind load and potential erosion due to salt impact by using the right techniques and materials."

Download Elien's lecture on the importance of calculating wind loads. (in Dutch)

Façade Engineering

The coastal climate is an aggressive environment in terms of weather conditions and influence factors such as chlorides. Our façade engineers advised and supervised a wind tunnel analysis to incorporate wind load effects into the project. The results of this analysis are translated into the technical properties of the façade.

Apart from the wind load, the coastal environment also influences the material choices, placement and detailing of the façade. Our team of façade specialists examined all the constituent parts to finally integrate them into the whole.

Only components with a high corrosion class were used in the façade closure
the anchoring of each component was developed and calculated in detail
and glass panels and aluminium finishes were carefully selected to ensure long-term quality.

Interested in more?

As executive architect, we help the designing architects with all technical and financial issues, so that they can fully focus on the design. BB also monitors the execution and ensures that the objectives and plan are always crystal clear for all partners, so that together we can make our dreams come true.