The issue with the mid-century split-level dwelling in Hoeilaart, Belgium, wasn’t that it had been uncared for over time. The issue was that it had been subjected to an excessive amount of consideration—all ill-conceived interventions that turned the once-elegant and easy construction, designed by architect Y. Loze and in-built 1962, right into a Frankenstein.
“The place was messy, with plenty of parasitic components corresponding to low-cost verandas, added partitions, separations, concrete slab,” says Sébastien Dachy, cofounder of Brussels-based architectural studio Mamout. (For proof, scroll to the top for the horrifying “earlier than” shot.) Working in collaboration with architect Stéphanie Willocx, he and his workforce cleaned up the extraneous and the heinous, returning the house to its minimalist roots and persevering with the dialog between the indoors and outside.
The brand new homeowners, a cook dinner and a seamstress, had one other request, too: a second bed room. The home was designed as a one-bedroom, however with two youngsters, the couple wanted a minimum of yet another. Fairly than compromising the unique design and including an extension, the workforce determined to transform an underused underground storage into a big shared youngsters’ bed room and create a brand new “stair tunnel” that connects it to the primary home above.
Be a part of us as Sébastien walks us via the delicate restoration.
Pictures by Séverin Malaud, courtesy of Mamout.
