MIKA - A house for K. and M.
Row houses in Belgium tend to be highly restricted due to their context and the rules enforced by urban planning. This plot had a width of 5m50 with a maximum building depth of 18m.
For the intense program, that of a newly composed family, we knew we had to search for interior related strategies to create spatiality as every square meter counted. Similarly, we couldn't rely on partitions to create different atmospheres as the resulting spaces would be too confined.
A limited range of materials is used on the ground floor but in different applications omitting the need to create divisions. The wood of the furniture in the living room repeats in the kitchen ceiling where we used it in 2 different ways, one hiding the wooden structure and the other revealing it. The floor makes a similar transition from a carpet towards a polished concrete floor towards the terrace outside.
The differences in floor levels strengthen the spatiality. The further you descend into the house, the higher the ceilings are, opening up the space towards the garden.
Row houses in Belgium tend to be highly restricted due to their context and the rules enforced by urban planning. This plot had a width of 5m50 with a maximum building depth of 18m.
For the intense program, that of a newly composed family, we knew we had to search for interior related strategies to create spatiality as every square meter counted. Similarly, we couldn't rely on partitions to create different atmospheres as the resulting spaces would be too confined.
A limited range of materials is used on the ground floor but in different applications omitting the need to create divisions. The wood of the furniture in the living room repeats in the kitchen ceiling where we used it in 2 different ways, one hiding the wooden structure and the other revealing it. The floor makes a similar transition from a carpet towards a polished concrete floor towards the terrace outside.
The differences in floor levels strengthen the spatiality. The further you descend into the house, the higher the ceilings are, opening up the space towards the garden.
A big eye-catcher in the kitchen is the marble slab that forms the countertop and the backsplash for the kitchen.
Location Hasselt(BE)
completion 2018
client private
program renovation of a row house
architecture unknown
interior architecture i.s.m.architecten
photographs Luis Dìaz Dìaz