Woning Landskouter

The house built by NU architecture studio in Landskouter has recourse to the distortion of the farmhouse typology. A zonevreemd building [i.e. a construction not typical of the zone in which it is situated], this house had to occupy 75 per cent of the footprint of the demolished fermette. The distortion of this conventional style of building was made in order to optimise the orientation of the house. Of the five façades, the two main ones face south and west, and are turned towards the most beautiful views. They are made entirely of glass, while the other three frontages barely have windows. With regard to the initial typology, the façades have been inverted: the gabled façades become the main façades and vice versa, while the pronounced roof unites the five elevations with precision. The geometry is also deformed to achieve a unique spatiality: a central pentagonal layout over two levels, and a roof-ridge that has been decentred with regard to the plan in order to organise the volumes of the second floor and accommodate a room under the eaves. It links a rationality of the plan with pleasing volumetric proportions in order to create a sensation of ample and fluid spaciousness. Based on a desire to return to natural materials and a natural logic and execution, the architects’ approach also guides the distortion that transforms the fermette into a primitive hut.

This text is based on an article by Audrey Contesse, published in Flanders Architectural Review N°12: Tailored Architecture.