The existing house has been rebuilt several times. This resulted in some spaces, like the attic, hardly ever used and with construction problems. UR architects decided to restore the house into the state of its original modernist design (architect Arthur Degeyter) and to extend it with an extra volume instead of the existing garages. The necessary changes bring more light inside without cutting any trees.
In the existing house different aspects are reorganized without much constructive surgery. The corridor is extended to the new kitchen. It also connects to the west façade and the entrance. The bedroom and storage in the south façade are merged and originate a shift of functions: the kitchen becomes storage, the dining room becomes kitchen, the living room becomes dining.
An additional volume with the new living room gives the house a new face. The carport and storage are half buried, the living room and work area are located half a level higher than the original spaces. A slope connects the extension with the garden and overlooks it to the west and back to the existing house. The working corner overlooks the front garden to the north-east.
Garden and house now complement each other. The new volume and its materialization finds itself in between. The closed facades are cladded with dark half-round wooden profiles and alternate with openings from floor to ceiling. The garden folds around it.
Project Details:
Location: Bruges, Belgium
Type: Residential – Houses
Area: 302 m²
Completion: 2010
Architects: UR Architects – www.urarchitects.com
Team: Nikolaas Vande Keere, Regis Verplaetse, Ana Pontinha
Photos: Luc Roymans
