A hole in the sky III

Renovation of a roofvolume met underlying rooms and terrace, humble to the inventoried street and garden in the back, spacious to live in.

Ghent, 2018-..., private client

The sun is at the front and the garden is at the back. In the evening the house casts the garden in the shade, while the steep roof at the front still gets plenty of light. Nothing is currently happening under that roof, so we make a hole in the roof so that things can happen. The street has been inventoried, so we’re being asked to hide the gap a bit. It is located behind the historic mansard wall, which is broken by a window that serves as a windshield. The windshield can open up. The black enamel pans vibrate in the sunlight. The hole is then mostly at the top, towards the dome, away from the street, secretly slurping up the light.

The hole is a terrace. A large window brings light into the corridor behind. The corridor is very wide and there is also a stage in it that systematically overcomes the height of the terrace construction. The corridor is so wide that it is actually a desk, play corridor, stairwell. There is a (technical) storage room next to the terrace. At the rear, the volume is expanded in such a way that more space is created with a minimal impact of shade on the garden. There will be a whole new children's room on that spot, which looks out over some stately trees. Once past the black tiles, no longer visible from the street, the volume becomes abstract white. A humble roof with a hidden hole, winking at the past but built for the future.

Stabimi (structure)




a really wide hall