MONTENEGRO

août, 2017

MONTENEGRO

Two apartments

Description: Transformation of a single house into an apartment building
Type of project: Housing
Type of customer: Private
Department: Transformation and renovation
Location: Saint-Gilles, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: 341 m²
Year: 2012-2013

Pictures: Maxime Delvaux & Delphine Mathy

Located in one of the most densely populated and more cosmopolitan districts of the country in what is commonly called the bottom of Saint-Gilles, the house presented the model of a typical Brussels house with an eclectic polychromatic façade. The project consisted in having two units of apartments distributed on 5 floors. The main developments are the composition and simplicity of lines to obtain an optimal spatial quality. In order to design larger apartments, extensions were made on the ground floor / garden and under the roof space. The rear façade was widely open to provide for more natural light and view of the inner courtyard. Communal areas have been reduced to their simplest expression in order to give more space to living areas. The different functionalities, displayed through elements of furniture, are filling up the released space. By using simple material, the project tries to show the paramount importance of implementation both through the finishing touches and the integrated furniture.

DESCHANEL

août, 2017

DESCHANEL

Apartment with a rooftop

Description: Transformation and extension of an apartment building
Type of project: Housing
Type of customer: Private
Department: Renovation and extension
Location: Schaerbeek, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: 168 m²
Year: 2010-2012

Pictures: Maxime Delvaux

Dated back to 1927 and at the corner of Rue de la consolation with Avenue Paul Deschanel the brick building of 4 levels is in Art-déco style. The apartment situated on the 4 th and last floor benefitting from the roof could be extended to enjoy the 360° panoramic view of the city. The challenge was to put a contemporary volume in recess from the other façades. It is now engraved in the usually nacreous sky of Brussels. The apartment required an in-depth renovation. In addition to the opening of the staircase leading to the annex, the plan was redesigned to provide open and functional spaces released from obsolete and bulky decorations while promoting a set of existing decoration details.

RUCHE II

août, 2017

RUCHE II

Renovation of a house

Description: Renovation and extension of a single house
Type of project: House
Type of customer: Private
Department: Transformation and renovation
Location: Schaerbeek, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: 309m²
Year: 2013-2014

At a few meters from the project Ruche I, the existing home dating from the 20s, is a standard neo-classical Brussels attached construction with a large dimension. The existing extensions are too narrow, making the access to the garden difficult and presenting some major structural defects. Rethinking the volume of the extensions in order to make them compatible with the main body and ensure integrated relation with the garden are the main lines of reflection. The existing volume was opened laterally and connected to a new construction of a two-story shape, connected with a newly enlarged kitchen and spread on two levels one dedicated to the kitchen and one dedicated to the children. Playing with light and shade, the whole project expands itself outside through a concrete terrace terminated by a long gardening box.

PASSEREAUX

août, 2017

PASSEREAUX

Extension of a villa

Description: Transformation and extension of a single house
Type of project: House
Type of customer: Private
Department: Extension and renovation
Location: Auderghem, Brussels (BE)
Surface area: 323 m²
Year: 2009-2011

The district of “Chant d’Oiseau” is a residential area of the 3rd Brussels ring created in the 1930s. Several architectural elements of the villa with sober but colorful features, typical of the district and the period of its construction deserved to be brought out. At the forefront of the garden and with a lack of access and relation with it, the house appeared to have been placed there haphazardly. So the main idea was to ensure continuity with the building environment and to enhance its intrinsic qualities. The project proposed to create a real link between the existing building and the garden; a significant simplification of plans and spaces, visually unifying the new and existing parts and harmonizing old and contemporary expressions. The kitchen furniture extended the movement to became the facade. Taking advantage of differences in levels, the furniture could be arranged in many different ways.

OOSTBURG

juillet, 2017

OOSTBURG

Cottage house in the Netherlands

Description: Renovation of a cottage house
Type of project: Private
Type of customer: Private
Location: Oostburg, Zeeland (NL)
Surface: 190 m²
Year: 2012-2013

The building is located within the Zeeland region. This area of the Netherlands is characterized by flat landscapes composed by rural land and water areas. The existing detached house resulted from the merge of 3 fishermen’s cottages overlooking a large garden in the middle of fields. The main intervention was to unlock and solve the problem of different ground levels resulting from the combination of cottages while increasing the relationship of the living room with its environment. Moving the main entrance to the rear in the garden has helped bringing together the bedrooms towards the former entrance hall. The living room could then be released from the more private areas and become a landscape area. The rear façade was largely opened towards the sunset and is offering a panoramic view of 180° from the house. The beams were left raw to remind graphically the rectilinear surrounding fields.