Vivier House
VIVIER HOUSE
AgwA
ARCHITECTS
AgwA
ENGINEERING
JZH & Partners
YEAR
2016
LOCATION
Brussels-capital Region, Belgium
CATEGORY
Houses, Schools, Adaptive Reuse
Text description provided by architect.
A small project for a small house. Better: a large glasshouse for a small house.
The house remains a house and does not need to be reinvented. The evening school is hosted in the large glasshouse.
Very simple in appearance, refined detailing in reality. A wood and steel curtain wall. A floor of polished concrete.
An inverted structure of hanging steel blades. A drop-shaped terrace. Playful yet seriously white and constructively refined.
A typical terraced house in Brussels, in a rather good state. Two independent programs, a social apartment, and an evening school.
The renovation remains strategic in order to maximize energy efficiency while minimizing grey energy.
Given the narrowness of the house, the project favors a common entrance hall. This mixed access creates both a link and a social control: it is a place of sharing, open on the evening school and the community hall in the neighboring house.
The evening school develops on the ground floor around a new patio. A large wooden curtain wall defines the outdoor space, provides light and gives coherence to all the multipurpose rooms.
The evening school is thus constituted by the succession of large rooms, open and independent at the same time. A series of material interventions gives each room a specific identity.
