Description

This individual house (the original architect is unknown) is located in a 1950s allotment in Uccle. Originally, the sloping site accommodated a cottage-style brick house with a gable roof. This house was only partially preserved by the new project, which retained the cellar level for storage spaces and garage, and some of the walls and the fireplace on the ground floor. These latter elements delineate the dining and living rooms on the ground floor. They are complemented by a kitchen to the south and four bedrooms and their bathrooms to the east.

All these spaces, old and new, are surrounded by a modern envelope that unites them and allows new circulations, generating the house’s contemporary façade in the shape of an irregular polygon. This envelope is made entirely of aluminium, from the perforated sheets of metal for the exterior walls to the window frames and the ceiling’s corrugated sheets. Inside, the walls and openings of the original house have two kinds of finishes: white render towards the interior of the living spaces and sandblasted bricks and concrete around the perimeter.

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Originally published in: Gérald Ledent, Alessandro Porotto, Brussels Housing. Atlas of Residential Building Types, Birkhäuser, 2023.