GEORGES
Coming from a fondness for townhouses and for a raw, ‘unfinished’ aesthetic, the owners of the house had a clear vision for themselves. Yet they were asking hé! architectuur for new architectural insights and input in terms of materials.
The owners bought a typical, narrow house in the Brussels borough of Anderlecht for their family of three children. The house had a number of nurseries and a tiny garden. The big advantage was the rear vista, allowing free light in the morning and afternoon. The visual axis lands on a view of the Old Veterinary School, a monumental complex from the 19th century.
The clients' request was to reorganise and connect the living spaces. On the lower two floors, they wanted to bring in more light, open up the space and provide an artist studio.
The proposal by hé! demolishes the old extension to organise the living spaces vertically and create more outdoor space. The architects also divided the day and night zones in a more balanced way across the house's five floors.
On the ‘bel-etage’ (the raised ground floor) will be the kitchen and dining room, and on the first floor the lounge. Removing the room above the kitchen completely creates a diagonal connection between the living spaces and allows evening light from the front façade to penetrate even deeper into the house. Some structural interventions open up the stairwell, widening the ground-floor dwelling and making circulation more dynamic.
The transverse steel beams of the coteries in the rear façade were retained. hé! transformed these into supports for outdoor lighting, plants and a sunshade. It inspired hé! to build the terrace in the same way. A transverse steel beam carries wooden beams recovered when the first floor was opened up. A perforated sheet serves as the terrace floor, letting light through into the garden area below and into the studio.
Kaat and Thomas were immediately on board with the recovery story and eagerly set to work themselves. Piles of marble, sourced from North Station, were collected from Rotor and stored to later become the cladding for the bathroom and kitchen worktop.In the double-height kitchen area and stairwell, the brick remained rough and coated with lime paint This accentuates the intervention of hey! and it creates a different atmosphere. And it also benefited the budget.
