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09:00 - 9 December, 2016

From the architect. The original house was built in the 1960s, in a style

vaguely reminiscent of the cottage familiar to this part of Brussels. It is

situated in an a!luent and green residential neighbourhood in the

outskirts of the city.

The former house was essentially a 2-story white brick building. It

took advantage of the slope of the terrain to include a two-car garage

in the basement. There was an exterior staircase leading to the main

entrance on the first floor.

Strict building codes required that the geometry of the old building

could not be changed, including its sloped roofs, its height and the

materials it was originally built in. However, there were few

regulations about “carving out” the ground or choosing the colour

palette.

The intervention thus consists of renovating and extending the

existing house:

I. Creating a “plinth” for the home: the ground floor of the house was

extended enhancing the geometry of the building and giving the

impression that it now sits on a plinth. This extension also o!ers a new

exterior staircase linking the two levels of the garden and creating a

passageway along the south façade. Finally, three niches are carved

within the mass of the plinth: the garage, the o!ice entrance, and the

new main entrance.

II. Revisiting the interior: The new entrance to the home was brought

down to the ground level, o!ering a direct and generous access for its

occupants. It also completely liberated the first floor. Once inside, a

new sculptural staircase carves its way up along the walls.

Furthermore, the new living room is now 2 stories high.

III. Framing Nature: To give the impression of a monolithic structure, a

dark coloured palette was used for the façade, the roof and the

window frames. The interior walls of the home, seen as a “camera

obscura”, are mainly painted white o!ering a perfect contrast to the

outside world: the windows become framed moments of the

surrounding natural landscape.

Product Description. To give an expansive view of the surroundings,

very thin window frames are used. Furthermore, instead of using the

traditional technique of placing the frames within the opening, they

are placed on the exterior side. In certain cases, it thus seems that the

frames disappear altogether.

Concrete

Projects Built Projects Selected Projects Houses

Brussels Belgium

Product:

See more:

Cite: "Villa Black / K2A" 09 Dec 2016. ArchDaily. Accessed 14 Feb 2017.<http://www.archdaily.com/801128/villa-black-k2a/>

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Villa Black / K2A

Architects

Location

Architect inCharge

Collaborators

Client

Area

Project Year

Photographs

Manufacturers

K2A:

Brussels, Belgium:

Federico Alegria, Stéphane Kervyn, LaurentKeutgen

:

Denis Vangansbergt, Flavia Radu:

Permis de Construire:

560.0 m2:

2016:

Nicolas Schimp:

FANTINI, Berker:

© Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp

© Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp

© Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp

© Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp

© Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp

© Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp © Nicolas Schimp Plan 0

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