Technical Study of Kongo‐Central Colonial Steel Houses Belonging to the DRC Patrimony

The built heritage is a collection of properties of heritage value that should be protected and preserved. Designed in Belgium and built in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at the beginning of colonisation, the steel-framed houses in the province of Kongo-Central are in an advanced state of damages due not only to the climatic conditions of the area, but also to those of exploitation. An architectural and technical study of these steel houses is nowadays required to develop solutions for their conservation as part of the DRC's built heritage. In this context, the National Fund for Scientific Research of Belgium (FNRS) is financing the research project entitled “Tropicalisation of engineering and architecture”. This project is carried out jointly by the Université libre de Bruxelles (in charge of the architectural part) and the Université de Liège (in charge of the engineering part). For this project, the courthouse of Mbanza-Ngungu (former ABC Hotel in Thysville) is studied in detail as a case study to identify the techniques used during construction, the pathologies affecting the structures and the solution which could be contemplated for their refurbishment. The present paper will introduce first investigation conducted in the framework of this project.