26.6.2014
House Karla en Koen, in Belgium
Embedded between a busy road and a crammed allotment, the house creates a cocoon of peace and privacy for it's residents. The noise and bustle of the street is blocked by a closed and modest front facade. Yet the back facade opens up totally to the beautiful garden.
The Janus Face
A strongly pronounced terrain pushes us to organise the entrance and secondary functions underground. You are swallowed by the belly of the building. After climbing up the stairs you elevate above streetlevel and connect to the garden. The big patio forms the spindle of the surrounding rooms. Inside and outside seem one continious space embraced by brick sculptures, floating beams and wooden windows. It’s double high ceiling creates a unique atmosphere and let people interact like on the balconies of a theater scene.
A half transparent staircase lets you finally enter the garden. It covers the underground wellness area – just enough to give her privacy but little enough to offer her the whirling sunlight. Between these levels you find the swimming pool gliding under the building. Natural materials, outdoor curtains, the full designed interior with architectural lightning… it all contributes to the final experience of the house.
For DMOA architecture is all about that experience and expression. Our clients search for a daily tingle of their senses while living in their homes. To give a good reflection of this tension, we made a short film with the residents in a leading role, to show their symbiosis with the scene. They blend with their house as they move through it, captured in their own family portrait.
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