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The project was to create a compact, well-considered row house with character, maximizing the scarce space and light available. The house sits on an extreme site: very small, fully enclosed on all sides. A smart layout, progressive construction method, and a carefully designed double façade ensure livability, hyper-efficiency, and emotional impact.

It became a project of give and take: a building that stands out, respectfully challenging its historic context. It bridges past and future. Through its structure, layout and relation to the surroundings, it extracts maximum potential from a highly complex site.

The house is built entirely in sustainable CLT solid timber construction. Panels were custom-made in the workshop — with openings for doors, windows, and technical systems — and assembled on site by crane. The shell was completed in one week, minimizing disruption to the neighborhood.

CLT, produced by Binderholz in Austria, is assembled with non-toxic adhesives. It meets all fire, acoustic, and thermal standards, while its vapor-permeable and humidity-regulating qualities create a healthy indoor climate. It stores and insulates heat, and at the end of its cycle can be dismantled for reuse or recycling, reducing waste. Sliding windows are FSC-certified timber. Floors and plinth are finished in terracotta tiles — natural, non-toxic, heat-retaining, and compatible with low-temperature floor heating.

The front façade combines transparent glass blocks (U-value 3.0 W/m²K, 80% light transmission, 37 dB acoustic insulation, fire resistant) with an insulated glass (U-value 0.8 W/m²K)  inner façade. The still air between creates a high-performing envelope. Party walls are insulated with Supafil mineral wool (λ = 0.033 W/m²K), made from 80% recycled glass, free of chemicals, binders, or glues. Performance remains stable year-round. The house integrates a heat pump, solar panels, balanced ventilation with heat recovery, and low-energy lighting. Its compact, fully insulated form consumes minimal energy.

The program is inverted: bedrooms below, living spaces above, topped with a roof terrace. The façade reflects this: terracotta tiles below, glass blocks above — increasingly open and luminous along the ascending stair. The accessible double façade admits abundant daylight without sacrificing privacy, while enabling ventilation in summer and insulation in winter. It also filters noise and shades the interior through orientation and block depth. Inside, the compact house feels open, layered, and calm. White-stained timber walls, terracotta floors, and acoustic curtains provide softness and resonance. The bold glass-block façade echoes the language of traditional row houses. It references local brickwork and frames windows as a natural consequence of construction rather than ornament.

Our practice is rooted in context and the impact of architecture on place. We do not work within a fixed style but treat each project as ground for experimentation and new ideas. We seek balance: not too much, not too little. Always aiming to add value beyond the brief. This hous eembodies that search — a layered dialogue between inside and outside, openness and privacy, harmony and dissonance. It provokes, questions, and enriches.

It is not harmony alone that feels natural, but the balance between harmony and discord: a dissonant harmony that both complements and challenges its place.

^CREDITS

Status: 2023-2025
Project Team: Seger Delmulle, Natan Van Laethem

Surface: 95 m²
Client: Private

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^PUBLICATIONS
BIS Award 2025 / Dezeen / Hypebeast / Divisare / Afasia / AVS / HLN / Bouw & Wonen