Article source: OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severe
The center of Brussels has a periphery inside. A piece of landscape, green, open, idyllic, as if it were on the fringes of the city (where it touches the forest) is to be found in the midst of it. This particular condition is easy to destroy. In order to double the surface of a seemingly freestanding house in this strangely lush environment, it was decided to elegantly underline the existence of everything there already was, to celebrate the status quo and to simultaneously make the addition disappear by making it extremely visible, making it, in a sense, the protagonist. The new addition is projected under the existing house, not adding any new volume, but effectively creating its pedestal. The pedestal turns the existing house into an exhibited object: maintained, cleaned and restored—undone of its original importance. The existing house becomes a night house, a ghost house on top of a new, excavated villa. The villa is simultaneously new and old. It is a house designed as a set of different spaces traced by columns. The column rhythm defines plan and sequence: a set of spaces which are not functionally defined. The villa presents itself as a remnant of a house; a set of tectonic elements crating different spatial hierarchies. Sometimes the spaces are open to the sky; sometimes they get their light indirectly. The structure is made of massive concrete beams and columns, measured with maximal tectonic effect. The structure is translated into a spatial idea. Concrete columns become stained wooden columns as soon as one crosses from inside to outside, effectively creating a spatial construct, a spatial sequence of hypothetical places to stay. The villa thus exists in the green island that is maintained by its very existence, a conscious contribution to an urban tissue on the verge of extinction.
Article source: OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen
This freestanding dwelling is situated in the middle of a parcel between woods and an agricultural area near the village of Buggenhout. The enclosure—a modular steel fence—is an integral part of the design and defines the volume of the house. The surrounding unkempt garden is not included, and functions as an automotive access around the house. The dwelling itself is composed of two levels: an open “outside house” on the ground floor, and a closed “inside house” on the first story, with views of the woods and rural landscape. The outside house is conceived as a patio villa with a garden. Its thick double walls—two load-bearing layers of standard brick, painted white—carry a concrete platform that forms the base for the inside house. The inside house is a compact set of rooms in the depth of the roof of the patio villa. This is conceived as a wooden box that covers the platform, which is made watertight by covering it completely with a dark plastic membrane. All detailing on this project is designed from the inside out: the huge sliding windows are added to the façade in such a way that the frames are invisible and do not impose on the impressive views. These are directed at the still open, rural landscape, while the neighboring houses remain relatively invisible. By deliberately moving the fence in from the edges of the property line, the dwelling becomes actually “freestanding”—a rare luxury in parcelized Belgium.
Article source: OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen
This weekend house occupies the complete surface of a deep lot in small town in Flanders. The long backyard of an existing row house is transformed into the weekend house proper; the whole length becomes the house, turning the existing building into a guest house. The new house is organized as a perspective sequence of four equal rooms, thus providing a sequence of similar spaces whose infill is always different. The sequence of spaces organizes a variety of distinct characteristics—a garden, a pool house, a courtyard, a living room. Central wall openings create an enfilade throughout the different spaces and a sliding glass roof enhances the flexibility of their usage. Each of the rooms gets its specificity through its particular furniture. Together they form a set of interlocking mini-universes.
This project consists of three essential parts: a passive multi-functional building, the sustainable city square with awning and underground car park. All components have been realised in a Public-Private Partnership.
The workhouse is part of a complex situated alongside the canal which has a very original and distinct character thanks to its special typology and materialisation. Unlike traditional industrial ‘boxes’, the workhouse’s programmatic mix is rather peculiar: it includes a garage, workshops, offices and a caretaker’s residence.
The Skatchkoff Residence is a detached passive-solar house at the edge of the centre of Kortrijk. The design brings two nostalgic elements into crystal clear form: the saw-tooth structure of the local textile industry and the wooden structure of the dacha of the client’s homeland, Russia.
Greenville involves the renovation and partial restoration of the existing main building of the Houthalen-Helchteren mine site into an incubator for the cleantech industry. The incubator is part of the Cleantech Campus for which a master plan was recently drafted. The Cleantech Campus is in turn part of a redevelopment plan for the centre of Houthalen-Helchteren, which among others comprises the development of parklands, a residential zone and the NAC.
The ‘Den Draad’ project consists of two new residential buildings on a brownfield site which is earmarked for redevelopment into a new, sustainable residential zone and a green neighbourhood park of 1.5 ha. In this context, the margins of the existing block are completed with new residences.
Considering the urban anchoring of the site, the angles of this building block are the regulating elements. The VDAB-project anchors itself with the existing context on the corner of the Noordlaan-Drie Koningenstraat, which is in direct relation with various public functions (post, ministry of finances), located near the main road. It is an intuitive meeting point located on a wide footpath. The second angle is the location for a possible extension and is at present, included in the project’s garden.
Structural engineer: Bureau voor Architectuur en Stabiliteit Dirk Jaspaert
Technical engineer: Bureau Bouwtechniek
Building physics:Daidalos Peutz bouwfysisch ingenieursbureau
Landscape architect: Aldrik Heirman
Security: Bureau Bouwtechniek
Contractor: CEI – Demeyer nv/sa, Afdeling Infra en gebouwen, Gent, Chauffage Bral nv, Lot 3 HVAC – Sanitair – Riolering, Electric Engineering Comp, Lot 4 Elektriciteit
The ‘Sanba and Stad’ project comprises a dyad at an exclusive location in the bend of the river Scheldt in Antwerp. It includes the renovation of an historic warehouse and the new construction of a lavish and elegant residential building.
Sanba is model type of warehouse which runs throughout the block and has 2 identical facades on the Rijnkaai and in Braziliëstraat. The deep floors with robust, concrete structure are reflected around the central courtyard with the authentic stars and passageway which give access to the building.
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