House in Burst
HOUSE IN BURST
De Smet Vermeulen Architecten
ARCHITECTS
De Smet Vermeulen Architecten
PHOTOGRAPHS
Dennis De Smet
YEAR
2013
LOCATION
Erpe-mere, Belgium
CATEGORY
Houses
Text description provided by architect.
The house stands along a country road between two parish churches on a large stretch of land sloping down toward the street.
What should a country house look like today - the question was immanent. One would expect a small cottage parallel to the road with a barn behind it.
We wanted something just as proper. The lofty barn and the cottage with its dormer windows grew into one volume.
The skin reveals these transformations. The smaller rooms along the street façade communicate with the living rooms sitting higher on the slope.
Together they constitute both a split-level house with interconnected rooms and a sequence of separate atmospheres.
Abstraction is muted by equivocal reminiscences. The combination of rustic and bourgeois imagery in the interiors projects an openness to different views.
Airtight, energy efficient, robust and made of renewable resources the house was built to last.
“The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.” Adolf Loos
