Former military building converted into residential house with office function

Buitengewoon Belgisch Bouwen - text Gregory Mees & Frank Berckmans - photography Laurant Brandasj

Even before the client decided to compete in the public sale of a military domain, he
involved architect Maarten Dekoninck in his plans. He gave a positive recommendation
and later transformed the brutalistic building, characterized by concrete and steel windows,
into a residential house with an office function. The very attractive location, at the highest
point of the green belt around Brussels, was certainly an important asset. The plot offers a
beautiful view of Brussels 20 kilometers away and you can also enjoy spectacular views in
the other directions.

To create is to delete

At provincial level, the circular building was given the 'zone-foreign' stamp and, given the
size of the existing volume, an extension was not an option. The architect started from the
existing form and position, and removed what was superfluous under the motto that the art
of creation consists of leaving out ballast. The interior walls turned out not to be loadbearing, which offered a lot of design freedom. For energetic and building physics reasons, the outside was given an insulated outer plaster that matches the raw concrete. The windows received a steel look on the outside and a sleek contemporary character on the inside. The ecological finish under the windows with shou sugi ban black wood is in line with the nature reserve.

Green circle

The brutalist character of the building was further enhanced by installing the utilities on the
outside. Electric cables therefore run on the outer walls and are only drilled inwards where
necessary, a technique that the office often uses for flat roofs. This method made it possible to leave the masonry and the concrete pillars undamaged. The walls on the patio side have been removed and replaced with glass. The building was therefore embedded in the rough nature reserve on the outside and the strictly organized culture garden within the circle.

At the same level

Inside, the building consists of a circular sequence of functions that continuously challenges the resident or visitor to explore the building along the patio with the walking zone, which dictates the lines of sight and light. Hidden sliding doors compartmentalize the walk. There are no level differences, everything is equally straightforward, like the building itself. The experience consists purely of the building and its surroundings.

Peace and intimacy

The inside has been covered with old cement-based paint technique to bring more tranquility to the concrete pillars and vaults and the red brick masonry. The heavy profiles temper the presence of the windows. The building embraces the inner patio, giving the house – more than 300 square meters on one level – a large degree of intimacy.

Architecture for future

For the architect are renovation, reuse and repurposing keywords for the future architect: 'You can contrast, accept or ignore, but the solution is usually in the context and it is up to the designer to discover it.' the brutalist character and then cut away the superfluous, as a kind of new minimalism, not so much by its inherent form language but rather at the level of perception. After accepting the building, he made an almost surgical analysis and treated it for the next life. 'Applying this method in a non-aesthetic context, such as a military building, is an important challenge for our future architecture,' says the architect.What makes this project so exciting is the fact that a building like this can be converted into a home. It reads like a statement and predicts a bright future.