Interior

At designer and interior architect Danny Venlet’s home and atelier in Brussels, arched transom windows original to the structure harken back to its history as one of the city’s several béguinages—enclosed communities founded by a semi-monastic Christian order and built in a traditional Flemish style. Venlet enlarged the glass panes beneath, which overlook the courtyard. In bold juxtaposition to the architecture, his own product and furniture designs, including his 2007 Cage Aux Folles stainless-steel wire baskets, often reference industrial materials and aviation-inspired forms.

The patio is also equipped with a generous workspace. Bates’s original fenestration, which failed to meet current building code, has been brought up to safety standards by employing the same slatting motif used elsewhere in the house.

Dolce sits at the dining-room table in front of the elegantly slatted cypress divider, which separates the living space from the new staircase.