The addition to this black A-frame small house in the woods of Brecht, Belgium has been a real challenge for dmvA Architecten. The challenge came from three directions. First, this hut was built as a holiday place; therefore it was not conceived for permanent living. Second, the new owner not only wanted to live in it, but she also to work from it, so an office space was needed as well. And third, and maybe the most constraining, the building regulations in the area are very strict, so only 290 feet more were allowed to be built. The architects had to completely rethink and remodel the house in order to meet the needs of the new owner. The result after many sketches was a straightforward geometric box structure to be added to the pyramidal shape of the existing house. This extension is home to the owner’s office, and the only walled-in space contains the bathroom. The ground floor is occupied now by the kitchen, living room, office and bathroom, whereas the small tunnel-line space upstairs has been transformed into a bedroom. The structural framework of the original building is a series of sloping studs, and the architects used them and matched the vertical studs of the new extension. They created a frame with uninterrupted glass surfaces, which give a dramatic and spacious feel to this otherwise very small space. The outdoor deck gives extra room to the house, where the owner can relax, eat and even cook in the Cor-Ten steel pizza oven.
The frame of the extension seems empty on this side of the house, due to the transparency of the uninterrupted glass surface.
On the other side, a black framed glass door gives direct access to the outside.
The office space has a full height book-case in the background and is basically occupied by a big Tense table by Piergiorgio and Michele Cazzaniga and Flow chairs by Jean Marie Massaud, both by MDF Italia.
The living room is made cozy with a mustard yellow Tufty-Time sofa by Patricia Urquiola by B&B Italia and a wood-burning stove by Stûv.
The inclined studs of the existing triangular building where kept and matched by the lines of the new addition.
