ABSTRACT
Two pioneers of the Belgian modern movement architect Huib Hoste and urban planner Louis Van der Swaelmen, designed the Klein Rusland garden district between 1921 and 1923. This chapter addresses objectives of basic comfort standards and improvement of the energetic performances. It considers the outcome of the restoration tests to the other buildings within the Klein Rusland garden district and to similar interwar constructions in general. Together with landscape architect and urban designer Louis Van Der Swaelmen, Hoste realized the garden district Klein Rusland in Zelzate between 1921 and 1928. This remarkable architectural achievement illustrates innovative concepts towards both social housing and progressive urban approaches. The original external woodwork was replaced with PVC elements without reconstructing the original detailing and colour architectural feasibility in relation to a substantiated management plan, and to set up management objectives for social housing heritage in general.
