Saving Villa Croonenberghs 1961, Genk (Belgium), from a developer that wants to demolish this Importent piece of Building Heritage that represents Genk during the Golden Sixties on social, cultural and economic level. A child of it’s time. The Villa is strongly influenced by Alvar Aalto and the World Expo in Brussels in 1958, a unique combination in the history of modernist housing in Belgium and outside.
Villa Croonenberghs is design by André Croonenberghs as his own house and architecture office. A. Croonenberghs is an importent figure as he had a big influence on the city face with the design of several modernist public buildings. He was also a respected aquarel painter and created an aquarel painting of his house before it was build in 1961. There is a picture of the painting shown in the documentary.
The mini documentary shows images from its early building stage up to todays situation where the frontyard is used as huge parking space for transportation trucks. A very sad and disappointing image.
by Marnik Heijligen
architectsplanet.tv 
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