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Architects: Martens Van Caimere Architecten
- Area: 397 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Nick Cannaerts / Home Sweet Home
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Manufacturers: Wienerberger
Text description provided by the architects. In Frasnes-lez-Buissenal, a village situated in the hills and protected landscape of Pays De Collines, we designed Villa V. The villa`s layout is L-shaped, mimicking the layout of a farmhouse that once stood on the site.
Within the L-shaped layout, the program is organized on one floor as a continuation of closed rooms and open areas. One leg of the L-shape sits inside the hill and contains the private areas: bedroom, bathroom, and study. The other leg contains the living quarters and hovers above the hill, overlooking the impressive landscape and winery.
Looking from the top of the hill called ‘Dieu des Monts (God of the hills)’, to the valley, the villa with its green rooftop blends in with the surrounding landscape. Looking from the valley up to the villa, it seems to detach from the hill, hovering.
The villa was constructed using in situ casted concrete, defining its strong visual appeal into an uncompromised concrete sculpture. The concrete establishes an interior canvas for the villa and functions as a minimalistic backdrop for the modernistic art and furniture collection of the clients. Techniques are kept visible throughout the project, accepting their necessity and exploiting their visual industrial quality.
From the outside, following the strict material regulations of the protected landscape, the villa is covered in red brickwork. A material commonly used in Pays De Collines. Maximizing the view to the ever-changing surrounding, the sculpture was perforated with curtain walls, constructed from wood and glass. They make the strict rhythm the villa was designed with, readable from the inside out for the clients and outside in for the people passing by.
This readability and architectural language are further established by the two cantilevered rooftops (one serving as a covered entrance, the other as a covered terrace) ending the L-shaped villa with a strong gesture.
