Bob van Reeth’s Botte House is a celebration of the quirky and inventive Belgian architecture of the 1970s. Fascinated by its binary tectonic of light wooden frames and thick concrete mass, I developed a Corner — a re-interpretation of its constructive system — the potential of which I would explore through the development of two houses.

Built for a writer and his family, the House in Ostend is a cascade of spaces extending the tectonic of my Corner into a series of poetic and architectural moments. The particular relations between concrete stairs and wooden frames each time emphasize on a specific attitude towards space and contribute to the client’s daily life; writing, resting, bathing, reading, preparing a meal, sharing a discussion, etc.

Built for a painter and mother in Place du Logis, the House in Brussels is an opportunity to develop an architectural response that would collide the architectural richness of my Corner, the traditional adjacent building type, and the program required for the owner’s both family and artistic life. The result is a double-house drew from extending geometries of both adjacent buildings, offering an atelier and gallery on one street, and a family home on the other. The building met in a collision of frames that host the family common and living spaces.  

© Olivier Faber 2021