Minimalissimo

Villa BA

architecture

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Location
Bruges, Belgium
Architecture
Gosseye + Verbeke
Photography
Piet Albert Goethals

Villa BA is a brutalist bungalow situated in a leafy neighbourhood on the outskirts of Bruges. Designed by Belgian architects Gosseye + Verbeke the sleek residential project fronts onto a smaller forest road with limited traffic, but a lot of hikers. Therefore, the brief for the design was to create an enclosed outdoor space that acts as a buffer between public and private. Lead architect Dieter Verbeke explains:

The house actually gets 'two' facades that play with open and closed. What is open in the first one is closed in the second. This zigzag provides the necessary buffer without losing contact with the front garden/street and makes the house still approachable.

The plan of the dwelling is further structured around two perpendicular circulation axes. Both axes end in floor-to-ceiling glass walls so that the connection with the surrounding forest is preserved and the feeling of openness remains. This connection is further extended into the residential functions that are implemented on the axes. From the living room to the bedroom, all spaces are fitted with wall-to-wall glass so that the forest is drawn in as much as possible.

In contrast to the elegant, green nature that surrounds it, the complete house was designed in brutal, grey concrete. The rough materialisation continues in the interior finishing, with a floor in beton ciré and bespoke kitchen cabinets, interior doors and table in raw, brushed oak.

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