HOUSE IN BRASSCHAAT

Antwerp, Belgium 1990-1992

The site is located in an opulent suburb of Antwerp, with oversized houses on is the parents house organised around the main patio, and with a maximum
plots that are carved out of the forest. Geographically the area forms part of view onto the garden.
a vast expanse of ridges covered with pine trees; one of the remaining dunes The internal space is organised by a number of layers parallel to the street,
separates the parcel from the street. made explicit by a series of different oor and wall materials, with an increasing
To preserve intimacy and a certain discretion towards the street, the dune openness towards the south. Overlaid on this basic organisation is a number of
was turned from a natural barrier into a threshold for the one-storey house smaller subdivisions of more or less separate rooms.
immediately behind it. A driveway on top of the dune - with red and white barrier
- leads to the roof. Two silhouettes rise above the crest of the ridge : one is
square and translucent and contains a garage with service-entrance and goods
elevator. The other is triangular and covers the main entrance. A ramp - half
inside, half outside - cuts the square volume of the house in two programmatic
pieces: one is the children’s apartment giving onto two smaller patios, the other

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list of illustrations 1-plans 2-view from garden 3-sections 4-night view of the roof 5-collage 6-patio

Credits

architect : Xaveer de Geyter client : private

collaborators : Piet Crevits, Alain de Backer program : private house
structural engineer : Jeroen Thomas total floor area : 470 m²
landscape design : Yves Brunier cost : 322 420 €
© xaveer de geyter architecten - info@xdga.be