Hasta La Ideas

DMOA Architecten has transformed a former hunting lodge in Belgium into a family home, retaining the eight piers of its original brick facade as a garden feature (+ movie).

La Branche was first built in the eighteenth century on the site of a castle in the woods of Heverlee, Belgium. Originally a home, it later became a hunting lodge but was left vacant 15 years ago.

DMOA Architecten refurbished two brick blocks and created a new one-storey volume that links the two. The eight piers of the original facade, which gave its name to the property, were retained as a free-standing screen in front.

“When you walk through the house you feel continuously that you are in a nexus between old and new,” said Luis Querol of DMOA Architecten.

The new flat-roofed single-storey volume holds the living and dining areas. It has custom-made windows and timber cladding in black-tinted afzelia.

Cupboards are made of smoked oak veneer, the floor is natural oak, and the kitchen is a combination of brown Corian and smoked oak veneer.

The new addition makes a U-shaped plan, connecting with the two brick gabled buildings that sit at right angles to it to form a central courtyard.

The house is now home to a family with four children, whose bedrooms are within the brick-built wings.

Floors and walls in the master bathroom are painted black.

Photography by Thomas Janssens. Video is by Luis Querol.

Here’s a project description the architect sent us:

La Branche

The project is a peaceful combination of old and new. The new part is a sober black canvas looking at the garden from behind the old walls.

In several places remnant parts of the old walls are kept as garden elements, an aspect that strengthens the atmosphere. When you walk through the house you feel continuously that you are in a nexus between old and new.

The project consists of the renovation of an old resting place for hunters in the woods of Heverlee (Belgium), transforming it in an comfortable and modern dwelling for a family with four children.

One of the three wings of the U-compositions was removed except of the facade wall, which remains with the name that gave title to the old refuge and now to its renovation “La Branche”.

The sides made of brick contain the private rooms of the family meanwhile the dark volume accommodate the living and the kitchen in permanent connection with the pool and the outside garden. The dark colours of the interior design contrast with the high brightness that gets inside through the large windows.

Project Title: La Branche
Architects: DMOA Architecten
Collaborators: Benjamin Denef, Charlotte Gryspeerdt, Matthias Mattelaer; Lien Gesquiere
Localization: Heverlee, Belgium
Site area: 2200 sqm
Floor area: 655 sqm

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hunting lodge by DMOA Architecten appeared first on Dezeen.

Belgian studio Pascal François Architects has completed a two-storey house in rural Belgium that slots beneath the roof of an old stable block (+ slideshow).

Pascal François Architects designed the residence to take the place of another house that had been demolished in Lokeren, northern Belgium. It occupies the exact footprint of the old home and its end intersects with the single-storey stable alongside.

A glazed kitchen sits at the point where the two buildings overlap, but is not joined to the existing structure of the stable.

The architect had to demonstrate to planning authorities that the two buildings weren’t connected in order to gain permission to build.

“The reason for positioning the extension under the existing roof was in search of morning light into the kitchen,” François told Dezeen.

“It caused difficulties because we could not build a volume exceeding 1000 cubic metres, and they [the authorities] were counting the barn and the house together because they are touching,” he added.

The rectilinear house sits perpendicular to the barn. Ceramic panels clad the top half of the structure, while the lower section is covered with vertical strips of wood that are interspersed with floor-to-ceiling windows.

The entrance to the house is also covered in similar wooden strips, allowing it to blend in with the walls.

Once inside, residents are faced with a large window, which looks out to a long water feature that extends outwards from the opposite wall.

This space leads through to a monochrome living and dining area with a wooden deck off to one side, while an office is positioned at the opposite end.

Three bedrooms and a pair of bathrooms are located upstairs, and the old barn is still used for keeping horses.

Photography is by Thomas De Bruyne.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Barn

For a number of years, the Flemish government have allowed un-zoned buildings to be renovated or even to be rebuilt.

The rules, however, are extremely stringent. With this project, we have tried to respond to this reality in a contemporary manner.

As the line of what is possible is so very thin, obtaining the building permit alone has taken two and a half years.

The new habitable volume is built on the compulsory “footprint zone” of the old house, but extends towards the barn without actually touching it construction-wise.

The purpose was to catch the light in the east. The result is an exciting symbiosis between old and new.

The barn determines the character of the site and of the building. Hidden behind a wooden “ribbon”, a number of openings needed to be added.

Further on, the ribbon is draped around the new house and finally becomes a usable terrace.

The upper floor of the house is covered with ceramic panels, the colour and the material referring to the existing barn’s roof.

The remarkably sober and closed façade on the street side hides a very light and spacious interior, which derives its energy from a series of patios.

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Pascal François Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Ghent studio Open Y Office has extended a house in Belgium, adding a concrete structure that could also function as a standalone residence (+ slideshow).

Located in the town of Herent, the extension was designed by Open Y Office with stark concrete walls that contrast against the white-painted brick exterior of the old house, which is a converted post office.

“The inhabitants wanted an extension that was flexible enough to be transformed in time to a separate unit with its own bed and bathroom,” said the architects.

The volume of the building appears as two rectangular boxes stacked on top of one another, with the upper storey slightly overlapping the ground floor below.

An open-plan living area occupies the first floor and overlooks a garden with a new swimming pool.

A glass passageway leads through to the existing house, plus large timber-framed windows open the room out to a long and narrow balcony.

The ground floor below contains storage areas and a garage with timber panelled doors.

Concrete steps with a steel balustrade lead into the house via an entrance on the first floor.

Other residential extensions we’ve recently featured include a London home with a walk-on glass roof and an extension in Dublin covered with terracotta tiles that look like bricks.

See more residential extensions »
See more architecture and design in Belgium »

Photography is by Tom Janssens.

Here’s a short description from the architects:

House Wiva

This OYO story takes you to Herent, where the extension of a private residence captures its surroundings.

The inhabitants wanted an extension that was flexible enough to be transformed in time to a separate unit with its own bed and bathroom.

OYO emphasised the contrast between the new shape and the old volume, which used to be an post office. You can see the concrete floating above the garden.

From the point of view of the residents, the extension creates exciting views from the new living room. The two volumes are connected with a light wooden footbridge that functions as entrance but also clarifies the different volumes.

Architects: OYO – Open Y Office
Location: Herent, Belgium
Type: Single family house extension
Area: House extension 110 m2
Year: 2010

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Open Y Office appeared first on Dezeen.

This house in Belgium by Ghent studio Graux & Baeyens Architecten is broken down into cubic volumes that are staggered to let more light into each room (+ slideshow).

Located in the village of Mullem, the bright-white building accommodates a family house and a small practice for a physiotherapist.

Graux & Baeyens Architecten were restricted from building too close to neighbouring houses, so were only left with a narrow plot to fit the house onto. This meant all rooms had to be organised on a linear axis with the physiotherapy practice tacked onto the end.

“Planning regulations required a minimum clear gap of four metres between the neighbours on both sides of the already narrow site, which meant that the building’s organisation had to be very efficient with space,” explain architects Basile Graux and Koen Baeyens.

Rooms are staggered back and forth on both floors of the two-storey building, adding space for additional windows on the protruding walls. As well as letting in more light, this prevents any problems with overlooking the neighbours.

All bedrooms are positioned on the ground floor, freeing up space on the upper storey for an open-plan living and dining room with views out over the village rooftops. Different areas are loosely defined by the set backs in the walls, while balconies are slotted into the recesses.

To integrate a parking space for the family car, the architects added an extra wall and shelter beside the house’s entrance.

Other interesting houses in Belgium include a residence in a former laundry building and a glass house with a sunken swimming pool. See more architecture in Belgium.

Photography is by Luc Roymans.

Here’s a more detailed description from Graux & Baeyens Architecten:

House DZ in Mullem, Belgium

New construction of a private house + physiotherapist practice

The general concept of the building is responsive to the narrow plot and dense program as required by the clients. The brief was for both a family home and a physiotherapy practice.

Planning regulations required a minimum clear gap of four metres between the neighbours on both sides of the already narrow site, which meant that the building’s organisation had to be very efficient with space.

The first step in working with these limitations was to switch the traditional dwelling program. The daylight functions (kitchen, dining, living & terraces) are located on the first floor with bedrooms and bathrooms located on the ground floor. This allowed for better views from the spaces on the first floor along with much more natural light entering the most commonly used spaces. The monolithic volume was then separated into smaller blocks which could shift to achieve maximum direct sunlight entering the building along with selecting specific and beautiful views.

The first floor is kept open plan but the shifting rooms also act to define and separate the different spaces without actually creating physical divisions. Each space is visually connected but has its own atmosphere due to the location of the windows and shifting of the blocks. By shifting the blocks on the first floor balconies are also created for the kitchen and lounge space.

The windows were carefully placed in the facade to capture surrounding views in particular the green areas to the east of the site and also to allow direct sunlight into the living spaces. The south facade is kept closed for privacy and to block the sun when its at its highest point.

On the south west facade the windows are placed perpendicular to the neighbours. This is once again to maximise the amount of natural light entering the building and to ensure privacy for both the neighbours and our own clients.

An efficient and sustainable volume is achieved due to the compact nature of the building along with its orientation to maximise natural sunlight wherever it’s possible.

The buildings compactness is also evident with the efficiency of the program. The client requested a physiotherapy practice to be incorporated into the building. The ground floor is defined by a narrow corridor which has two stairs mirroring each other.

One stairs connects the bedrooms and bathrooms to the living areas on the first floor. The public stairs connect two physiotherapy practices one on the ground floor and one on the first floor. These stairs separate the private and public functions but also help to bring light into the ground floor and to open up the corridor space, creating an airy and pleasant entrance to the building.

The client also had a requirement for a car port and garden shed on the ground floor. These program requirements were used within the sites limitations to achieve their function and also define private external spaces.

The car port acts as a private and secluded entrance for the physiotherapy practice and the garden shed defines a terrace which is secluded from the neighbours and opens out into the garden. External steps lead up to the lounge area connecting the first floor living functions to the garden.

Address: Mullem, Belgium
Client: family DZ
Design: 2009-2010
Interior design: 2010-2012
Start construction: January 2011
Finished: February 2012
Site area: 810 sqm
Built area: 263 sqm
Design architect: Graux & Baeyens Architecten
Project architect: Graux & Baeyens Architecten

Materials:
– Facade Facade System on EPS insulation
– Construction concrete and brick
– Windows Aluminium

Above: concept diagram

Above: ground floor plan

Above: first floor plan

Above: cross-section

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Graux & Baeyens Architecten appeared first on Dezeen.