Technical Study and Proposal for Solutions to Rehabilitate Steel Buildings in Kongo-Central with a View to Their Repurposing and Designation as Cultural Heritage Sites

We are pleased to invite you to Mr. Aris MPEMBA NKOLE KABONGO’s thesis defense. It will take place on Monday, August 31, 2026, at 3pm, in Room TP64 in Building B52, Sart-Tilman.

This thesis defense will also be available via the FSA’s PhD Channel: https://www.fsa.uliege.be/cms/c_10939937/fr/fsa-phd-channel

This dissertation, supervised by Prof. Jean-François DEMONCEAU, is titled “ Technical Study and Proposal for Solutions to Rehabilitate Steel Buildings in Kongo-Central with a View to Their Repurposing and Designation as Cultural Heritage Sites ”.

“Built heritage” refers to properties of heritage value whose preservation must be ensured. Whether old or more recent, the built heritage is part of our daily lives. As a testament to the past and present values of industrial society—values that are emotional, symbolic, cultural, scientific, or social in nature—it constitutes an important element of history and contributes significantly to the region’s image.  

Designed in Belgium and built in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the early 20th century, the steel-framed buildings in Kongo-Central, constructed by the Société Anonyme des Grandes Chaudronneries de l’Escaut, are in an advanced state of disrepair due not only to the area’s climatic conditions (a humid tropical zone) but also to how they have been used by their occupants. Given their heritage value, it is therefore necessary to conduct in-depth structural studies of these buildings to identify deficiencies and propose solutions that will preserve them as a testament to the shared history between Belgium and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

It is within this framework that the Belgian National Research Fund (FNRS) funded the PDR project titled “Experiments in Architecture in Kongo-Central Under the Influence of Actors and Factors of Colonial Power and the Local Context. Tropicalization of Engineering and Architecture.” This project, conducted jointly by the Free University of Brussels (ULB) (responsible for the architectural component) and the University of Liège (ULiège) (responsible for the engineering component), resulted in the completion of two doctoral dissertations. The first, presented and defended by Dalia Perziani, is titled: “Building with Metal in Lower Congo: Systems, Actors, and Adaptations of Tropicalized Architecture (1885–1930)” and covers the architectural component of the project on behalf of the ULB; while the second, covering the engineering component and titled: “Technical Study and Proposed Solutions for the Rehabilitation of Steel Buildings in Kongo-Central with a View to Their Repurposing and Designation as Cultural Heritage,” is the subject of this thesis.  

The research conducted throughout this study made it possible to: (i) identify the technical characteristics of steel-frame building solutions imported during the colonial era to the Independent State of the Congo (EIC), as well as the alternative construction methods used; (ii) conduct a comprehensive structural analysis of a typical building (the Mbanza-Ngungu Courthouse — the former ABC Hotel in Thysville) in order to highlight and/or identify the “strengths” and “weaknesses” of these structures, (iii) to identify the defects affecting the structural elements and their effects on the loss of load-bearing capacity, and finally, (iv) to formulate proposed rehabilitation solutions for the building under study and other buildings in the city of Mbanza-Ngungu built using the same construction system—solutions that must take into account the weaknesses identified in the preceding points.