Annemie Lathouwers grew up in a forested enclave on the outskirts of Antwerp, Belgium. A nature preserve filled with stately pines, the area lured her back when she and her husband, David D’Hulst, began thinking about trading their house in the city for greener surroundings. Eventually, the opportunity arose to buy the lot between her parents’ house and the homes of her two married siblings, all giving on to the same patch of woods. The couple, both architects, decided to complete the family compound of sorts with a new house for them and their two young children.

The structure they designed is a cluster of boxy volumes clad in vertical strips of wood and dotted with oversize windows. The entrance is through a walled garden where the couple have planted herbs and created a small swimming pond. Inside, an atrium garden—home to a tortoise and toad—acts as the green heart of the house. Everything is organized around it. The use of natural materials, such as wood, lime plaster, and clay bricks more commonly used as paving stones, enhances the interior’s connection to the outdoors.

At first glance, the house seems large. But walking inside, you’re struck by how compact it is. For example, there is no stairwell or entrance hall: The three stories consist of split-levels that are interconnected. The bedrooms and bathroom have deliberately been kept small, to free up as much communal space as possible.

“With the doors open, the children’s bedrooms become an integral part of the living area, rather than places that are used only at night,” says David. “The dressing room, which we share with the children, is not hidden away in a separate room, but built into a closet in the corridor, so it takes up minimal space.”

David spent two years building the house—quite literally. Apart from the structural work and technical fittings, he did everything himself. “The idea of the architect as a craftsman really appeals to me,” says David, who founded his firm, Studio Ambacht, in 2018.

“Doing so much myself made me a better architect and gave me more technical knowledge. As a result, we could make smarter decisions when it came to the interior details and finish.” The couple chose economical materials and even repurposed some, which helped keep the project within budget.

“The trees I had to fell were sawn into wood planks that we used to make the formwork for the concrete elements, like the walls and fireplace,” says David. “Once the planks were removed from the formwork, I used them as the base layer for the facade’s wooden cladding, which I also installed myself. Scarcely any materials were lost. Even some of the furniture is made from reclaimed material.”

The house doubles as a workplace when the couple don’t feel like commuting to Antwerp. “It’s a place for living and working,” says Annemie, co-creator of the design collective blancooo. “We notice that we design differently here from the way we do in the city.” The house is also a great place for the children because of all the cousins nearby. “We’re part of a kind of collective, yet each of us has our own house,” says David. “The gardens don’t run into one another but come together beautifully in the forest at the rear.”

The architects collaborated with a number of Belgian designers on the interiors. The swing that hangs in the living room, for example, was a project by furniture maker Jan Van Goethem and artist Tine Colen, both of whom have participated in blancooo.

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The most visible collaboration was with textile artist Nathalie Van der Massen, who designed a work that serves as a room divider between the indoor garden and a sunken seating area. It is titled Sverige—the Swedish word for Sweden—and is based on a landscape painting. The fabric appears to be opaque, but because Van der Massen removed threads in various places, sunlight gently filters through in the evening when the angle is just right.

There’s a strong emphasis on craft and creativity throughout the house that ties all of these objects and materials together and connects them back to the landscape. “You end up with a kind of Gesamtkunstwerk,” David says, “a total work of art in which everything makes sense.”

Project Credits:

Architecture: Studio Ambacht / @studioambacht1976

Interior Design: Blancooo

General Contracting: Oostkaai / @oostkaai