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Client: Private
Architect: BLAF architecten
Pictures: New situation © Stijn Bollaert
Building Site: Overijse, Belgium
Concerning: Building of a detached house
Date: 17 August 2018

This is a view of the house from a distance showcasing the surrounding area and landscape.

This is a view of the house from a distance showcasing the surrounding area and landscape with tall trees and grass lawns.

This is a closer look at the house showcasing the elevated landscape of the hill it is built on.

This closer look at the house showcases the unique design of the patterned railings that runs from the balcony to the rest of the house exterior walls.

This is a look at the front of the house featuring a concrete walkway that leads to the glass doors of the entrance.

This closer look at the house features more of the patterned railings and how it extended to be a design for the exterior walls for a unique texture.

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This is a closer look at the front of the house showcasing the concrete walkway flanked with various plants and shrubs on the sides.

This is a close look at one of the large glass windows of the house at the upper level.

This is a closer look at the textured exterior dark walls of the house that makes the bright and shiny glass windows to stand out.

This is a closer look at the balcony at the top of the house where the metallic patterned panels of the exterior extend to serve as railings.

This is a closer look at one of the glass doors of the house that let in natural lighting for the potted plants on the console table at the side.

This is the side of the kitchen that has dark structures and appliances that stand out against the light tones of the walls brightened by the glass walls on the side.

This is another look at the kitchen that has a large dark kitchen island underneath a alrge wooden beamed ceiling.

This is a close look at one of the glass windows that stand out against the surrounding beige walls and wooden beamed ceiling.

This is the couple of windows that can be seen from the vantage of the kitchen. These two has a sweeping view of the landscape below.

This is the window on the side of the living room's sofa with an end table with a drawer on the side.

The sofa is topped iwth a wooden beamed ceiling above that matches with the rest of the ceiling. This also gives a view of the large glass wall on the side.

This view of the house showcases both the dining area and the living room area and their proximity to each other.

The dining area has a round wooden dining table topped with a black bowl pendant light that hangs from the wooden beamed ceiling above.

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This is a view of the dining area from the vantage of the kitchen at a higher level. You can also see the small wooden cabinet of the dining area on the far corner by the window.

This is a close look at the side of the living room's sofa with a set of wooden steps to climb to the dining area.

The wooden steps on the side of the sofa matches well with the wooden pillars, walls and beamed ceiling.

This is a view of the living room sofa and its proximity to the wooden dining table of the dining room.

This is a full view of the large sectional sofa of the living room that stands out against the surrounding bright and neutral tones.

The large sectional sofa of the living room is topped with an arched and beamed wooden ceiling with a cottage-style aesthetic.

This is a farther view of the living room and the dining area that showcases the natural lighting that gow in from the glass windows.

This is a view of the bedroom that showcases the proximity of the bed to the built-in wooden cabinetry that externds to the wooden beamed ceiling.

This view of the balcony showcases just how tall the railings are and how it aids in enjoying the surrounding view of the house.

This look at the balcony showcases the shiplap flooring that somehow matches well with the patterned railings surrounding the balcony.

The balcony has a clear and sweeping view of the surrounding treetops and landscape.

This is a closer look at the view of the treetops and landscape just beyond the patterned geometric railings of the balcony.

This is an illustration of the house's elevation showcasing the textured walls and windows.

This is the illustration of the ground level floor plan.

This is the illustration of the first level floor plan.

This is the illustration of the basement level floor plan.

This is the illustration of the roof level floor plan.

This is a look at the two architects of the house.

The plot is located in a street characterized by an alternation of linked and detached houses. The area consists mostly of older houses, and their relative positions, unique to each lot, have grown historically. The wide variety of building depths, alternating positions of the facade, and volumes are specific for this environment, with no same outline shared by two neighbors. This specific character is a scenic quality that has grown from the existing relief. This also allows for a direct view of the valley, situated in the back. The site has a considerable slope of approximately 20%. The highest part of the site is on the street side, from where the terrain descends towards the valley, called the ‘Lanevallei’. The street side of the plot is northwest-oriented.

A building proposal and building application have been submitted earlier by the seller of the plot. This was done to clarify to potential buyers that the development of the plot is possible. During this application, the architectural quality was poorly examined and was insufficiently adapted to the relief.

The urban proposal was unfavorably advised. Although the proposal conformed to current building regulations, the planning authority decided that a spatially undesirable condition was created.

The building plans were adapted to the new guidelines, a building application was submitted and a permit was obtained. Our clients then bought the plot and commissioned BLAF architecten for the further design of the project. With the background of the building proposal and permit in mind, BLAF architecten started working on the design.

The design is a compact and energy-efficient single-family home.

A starting point was a respect for the topography and the environment. A compact volume was pursued so that the visual relation of the public domain to the valley is maintained. Due to the compact hexagonal footprint of the house, the volume stands solitary in the landscape, the undeveloped ground thus remains as close as possible to its relief.

The shape with its chamfered sides creates a greater distance to the lateral plot boundaries, which limits the impact on the scene and provides privacy. On the sides, the window openings are also limited to ensure privacy from neighbors. Due to the design of the volume, no windows are directly oriented or perpendicular to the adjacent plots.

The historically grown variety of building peripheries, with a variety of differently retracted houses, is experienced as specific and qualitative, partly because it maintains a better visual relation to the valley behind.

In order to discreetly integrate the volume in the landscape and provide sufficient living space, the house is inserted in the hill. To ensure sufficient light reaches the partially embedded rooms, a sunken terrace was laid out on the left side of the house. The retaining walls for this terrace do not protrude from the existing relief. Further adjustments to the terrain are kept to a minimum to respect the natural relief.

The proposed design consists of 3 floors, built up with split levels. The living areas are situated above the sleeping and functional areas, to make use of the 2 degrees Celcius gain in the indoor climate as a result of rising warm air. In the lower levels, the most deeply embedded in the terrain, a multipurpose room, a storage room, a cellar, and a children’s bedroom are implemented.

The upper floors contain a bathroom, an entrance hall, a master bedroom, and a living area. The top floor contains the dining room and kitchen, connected to a terrace and green roof.