We are south of Brussels. In this wealthy neighborhood, Claisse Architectures was called upon to renovate an impressive mansion measuring around 800 square meters. Built at the beginning of the 20th century in the emblematic style of the period, the building rises high in the heart of a green garden. “Our client wanted to recreate a family home, reception, as well as a workplacespecifies the Brussels cabinet. This very beautiful property was arranged as in the past, with large ceremonial rooms and service areas, but no longer corresponded to contemporary expectations.. The architects therefore worked to sublimate the existing while designing a soft and family universe.
The entrance is paved with a mosaic floor. The staircase turns around a sculpture by Quentin Smolders (Didier Devillez gallery).
ELINE WILLAERT
The spiral staircase, designed to preserve the privacy of residents between floors, in soft materials.
ELINE WILLAERT
Upon arrival in the project, Claisse found large reception rooms, bright and equipped with moldings, but degraded by successive transformations. “We worked on preserving these beautiful settings, while providing the necessary comfort”comments the agency. First challenge: recreate a link between the floors of this house, vertical, as required by bourgeois Brussels tradition. For this, a very particular staircase is imagined: “it starts from the ground floor and develops on all floors of the house, with a special shape that shrinks as it rises”. The objective is to respect the desire for privacy of the owner, who plans to carry out her professional activity on the ground floor and devote the upper floors to her family life. “The staircase narrows to mark intimacy as you go up, very fluid, with soft materials and colors”explain the architects.
The rear facade of the house opens fully onto the garden. Behind the large bay window on the ground floor, the yoga room.
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The garden was redesigned with the help of a landscaper, who reconfigured it to mirror the house.
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-Second challenge, strengthening the link between the interior and exterior of the house. To do this, Claisse first surrounded himself with a landscaper who carried out major work to reconfigure the garden. Then, the agency creates a vertical glass annex, running along the façade. “Before, we had a massive volume that didn’t open much onto the garden. This annex brings in the light. » On the ground floor, facing the garden, the large bay window hides a yoga and meditation room completely open to nature. “This very pure volume, at the bottom, is reflected on a volume of grass, which is the duplicate of the lower volume”explains the agency, which, in creating this mirror, confuses interiors and exteriors — the ideal for the holistic practice of yoga.
The dining room and its marble fireplace on the left. Table and chairs in DK3 walnut (Ten table and PIA chair) overlooked by a white porcelain light fixture (Bocci 21) and a chandelier by Jan Ernst (Galerie Objects With Narratives). On the right, the kitchen. At the back, the bow window opens onto the terrace and the garden.
ELINE WILLAERT
In the kitchen, two stories high, blown glass lighting fixtures (ELOA) float. The furniture was made by Claisse Architectures.
ELINE WILLAERT
The kitchen opens onto the dining room with furniture in bird's-eye maple and pink terrazzo designed by Claisse Architectures.
ELINE WILLAERT
On the first floor, a cantilevered terrace and a bow window offer the desired immersion into the garden. Also, the architects recreated a passageway between the large molded reception rooms, focusing on the new glass annex. “We didn't want to work horizontally so as not to touch the old volumes and maintain the link with the greenery. We preferred to direct the eye towards the sky, by creating a two-story high space in this glass roof. » In the kitchen, the glass roof is adorned with handcrafted lighting, floating like weightless bubbles.
