simplicity love: The Park House, Belgium

Belgian architect Dirk Heveraet designed the Park house, a minimalist villa surrounded by beautiful 200-years old French Oak trees and splendid nature.

All images © Jan Verlinde, Dirk Heveraet

Description from Dirk Heveraet:

“Situated on the outskirts of a town (Belgium) surrounded with beautiful 200-years old French Oak trees and splendid nature, the villa is placed in the middle of the field to catch the morning and afternoon sunlight in the front garden. The site is wide and deep, and the addition of a square pond in the front of the building emphasizes the park-feeling and also enjoys the beautiful reflections in the sunlight.

The minimalist, even the sculptural character and straight lines and volumes are giving the house a sense of timelessness. The building is in dialog with its environment : in the front garden next to the entrance is a group of old red beech trees, giving dark shades to the garden in the summer, and in the back garden the oak trees are dominating the scene.

The pattern and layout of the house is very particular : the length is exactly 30m, the hight is 7 m and the width is 8 m + 2 x 3 m covered terraces. Wherever one enters or leaves the house, they have protection against rain, wind or sun. Even on the first floor, one can leave the bedroom and the bathroom towards a covered terrace and enjoy the beautiful view towards the garden.

The housing program is not standard. Living areas and kitchen on the ground floor are melting together in one big loft with ability to partition, and the first- floor comprises 3 bedroom suites with each one his fully equipped bathroom. Also a large atelier - loft is provided with large windows looking out to the environment and with access to the terraces.

The outside plasterwork has a very light warm grey colour, and the window frames are made of bronze coloured aluminium with customized profiles. All used natural stone for floors and bathrooms consist of dark grey lavastone, and all wood used for the sliding doors, parketfloors on the first floor and cupboards are made of Congolees Wengé wood.

The pool is long (20m) and narrow, and totally made of natural lava stone. A footpath witch extends over the entire length, is located 50 cm below the water surface.

Timeless simplicity aims to be the principle issue for this project witch is already 15 years in use.

Dirk Heveraet, architect."