De Vylder house 2 Herentals

Detached single-family house

Inspired by the ‘Leienhuis’ for the son, META was given the commission for a detached house for the parents of the De Vylder family. The program is completely different: a couple whose children have left the house, that works from house and aims for an as open as possible internal living atmosphere. The contact with the garden and the natural area behind the house is very important, the contact with the street not at all.

The plan is organised within a consistent concrete skeleton, filled in with simple masonry or windows. All living and workspaces are situated around a central core, which contains the kitchen, the toilets and bathrooms. The primary rooms all have direct contact to the exterior, except for the duplex in the double high living room, that serves as a music room and library and has a rather introvert nature.

This compact house refers in plan (serving and served rooms in clear contrast) and materials (exposed concrete and masonry inside and out, steel and glass), unintentionally to the architecture of Kahn: rational, durable and prosaic in one.