IN-PERSON ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

In the 1970s and 1980s Liège underwent a wave of ambitious modernist developments that sparked urban controversies and reshaped its built environment. Far from being the result of unified visions or consensual planning, the city’s architectural transformations emerged from a slow, invisible process marked by conflict. These decades saw tensions crystallize around specific sites among which the Torrentius Hotel stands outs as paradigmatic of these tensions. This Renaissance hotel, threatened with destruction from the start of the modernist interventions, was listed as a heritage site in the Walloon Region in 1969 and its Renaissance components were later classified as Exceptional Heritage Buildings in 2013. Amid this turbulent urban renewal, marked by expropriations, intrusive infrastructure such as highways cutting through the historic center, and aggressive real estate speculation, a hybrid approach, known as “integration architecture” or “infill architecture,” emerged. It sought to bridge the gap between modern architecture and heritage preservation. In this context, Charles Vandenhove charted a distinct architectural course. Rather than categorically opposing urban renewal, his work aimed to establish a critical architectural dialogue with the existing built environment while contending with the dominant forces for urban development. Through the case study of the Torrentius Hotel—from the design details and rediscovered Renaissance fragments to broader conflicts over the urban fabric—this paper asks what role architecture can play in mediating between historic continuity and the pressures of urban expansion?