Bovenbouw House Extension, Mortsel

Date: January 8, 2017

Fuente: Bovenbouw
Fotografía: Karin Borghouts

A renovation and extension of a semi-detached house near Antwerp.

The house shares a little alley with its neighbour. The alley provides a direct connection from the street to the garden. The new extension is not an addition to the old house. We propose a second house. This back house is a mirror image, a twin to the front house. It’s a brick house again, with a pitched tiled roof, living space on ground floor and some rooms higher up, and a chimney and a staircase once more.

The ‘front’ facade of the back house is oriented to the garden. The side facade folds inward at the connection of both houses. The long alley has a centre point now: a little terrace adjoining the kitchen half way.

Just as the house is a mirror image, so is the cavity wall. The brickwork behaves as wallpaper. Every indoor space has its own texture of brickwork. The same pattern returns on the outside, exposing the section of the building.