On October 7 and 10, Ligne Bois organized several site visits, including one at the Athénée Royal of La Louvière. The organizing authority, Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement (WBE), presented the first prototype of the Modul’R project – a new construction system for prefabricated wooden school infrastructures, making use of glued laminated timber and CLT. Bureau greisch plays a key role in this project as the structural engineering office.
The building is the result of a multidisciplinary collaborative research effort between architects, engineers, university researchers, and industry partners. It consists of an assembly of standardized modules that can be used anywhere in Wallonia and Brussels. Its main advantages are rapid execution, cost control, and reduced disruption. The wood remains visible inside the classrooms, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
The new building of the Athénée Royal of La Louvière will be monitored through detailed analyses of its thermal, acoustic, and functional performance. Feedback from students and teachers will also be incorporated into this evaluation.
The goal is to develop an optimized version of the system that can be deployed anywhere, across all school networks. The technical specifications will be published in open source, allowing other institutions, architects, and public authorities to adopt the Modul’R concept.
Project stakeholders
- Client: Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement & Cellule architecture)
- Architects: KIS (Keep it Simple) – Matador
- Structural engineering office: Bureau greisch
- Industrial partner: Stabilame – Groupe Riche
- Building services and energy performance (PEB): Detang Engineering
- Acoustics: Daidaloz Peutz
- Academic research: UCLouvain