Family house, Schilde, 2007-2010

After Fragile-lab and a storefront shop in Lier, IEA was asked again by the owners of FRAGILE, a well known Belgian fashion brand for Maternity ware, to design their new family house on a wooded domain near Antwerp.
After a very intense mapping of the terrain and the nature of the soil plus an intense shadow study, using a 3-D simulation over a one year period, the position of the building was determent. The demanded program by the client was thematic and spatially split up into a leisure surface, a transparent living box and a mysterious monolithic sleeping box. The tree entities, each having their own level, are spatially, structurally and from the point of organisation bounded by a central hall and a library. The leisure surface accommodates a swimming pool, a diving pound, a hamam, a work-out space, a lounge bar and a workshop space. Above this floods the living - and sleeping box. Trough the introduction of the different split levels, unexpected spatial relations and fascinating vistas where created in the building itself and it's surrounded landscape.

Photo's: Axelle Degrave