Jürgen Vandewalle arranges Ghent penthouse round three blocks of furnishings

A “bed-cabinet”, kitchen island and boxed-in lavatory assist organise the ground plan of the Spinmolenplein penthouse in Ghent designed by Jürgen Vandewalle.

The 60-square-metre Spinmolenplein house is situated on the highest flooring of the tallest residential constructing within the Ghent, which rises up 25 storeys.

It was erected within the 1970s in an space that sits between the town’s medieval Flemish centre and its suburbs.

Tasked with creating a greater sense of house within the one-bed house, native designer Jürgen Vandewalle eliminated all the current partitions,  retaining solely the plastered structural partitions and ceilings.

The ensuing inside has an open-plan structure that revolves round three mounted parts: a kitchen island, “bed-cabinet” and an enclosed lavatory.

“Regardless of the restricted floor space, the house nonetheless feels very spacious,” stated Vandewalle, who employed what he refers to as “the precept of compact generosity” to design the house.

He describes this as “a logical and compact connection of all features” which creates “a beneficiant and sufficiently snug house on a small – however not too small – floor”.

Every space of the house has been rigorously positioned to reap the benefits of the sweeping metropolis views that are seen by the sliding floor-to-ceiling home windows.

The “bed-cabinet” sits on the centre of the ground plan, dividing the house in half: on one aspect lies the kitchen and eating house, whereas on the opposite is the lounge and toilet.

Open to the house’s beneficiant aluminium-framed home windows however enclosed on all different sides, the mattress unit was made by furnishings maker Atelier Pi from panels of plywood which can be brushed after which pickled.

Across the mattress is a sequence of built-in storage cabinets, whereas beneath are a few open drawers.

“The selection to combine the mattress into a chunk of furnishings was necessary to attain the openness of the house,” defined Vandewalle.

“The strain between the enclosed wood alcove and the view over the town is particular.”

The adjoining kitchen is anchored by a blocky breakfast island crafted from white-lacquered timber – Vandewalle likens its type to an altar in a church. A blue-green extractor hood has been suspended instantly above.

A big cupboard with a translucent door runs throughout the again wall. It is timber body, which is created from the identical plywood because the mattress unit, is loosely knowledgeable by the supporting framework of an artist’s canvas.

Positioned in the back of the house simply off the lounge is the quantity that encloses the toilet. Its created from the identical white-lacquered wooden because the kitchen island and is accessed through a set of barn-style doorways.

Inside, the bathe cubicle and bathroom are completed with an earthy, pink-tone micro cement that contrasts with the white wooden.

A green-leather couch and a espresso desk have been positioned close to the home windows to type a sitting space. There may be additionally a concrete eating desk beside the kitchen.

Fragmenture inserts wedge-shaped storage quantity into small terraced home in Ghent

“The house is an open flowchart the place you may transfer freely, however is just not essentially versatile in itself,” mirrored Vandewalle.

“The weather every have their very own chosen place in relation to one another. For instance, the huge concrete desk was poured on the spot within the house and due to its weight and measurement it discovered a definitive place right here.”

Finish-grain timber blocks stained petroleum-black have been specified by a rhythmic grid throughout the ground of the whole house, creating a sense of continuity between completely different rooms.

The blocks, which have every been made to measure 12 by 12 cm, have been lower from a pile of heavy oak beams that had been drying at a timber supplier for 10 years.

“The darkish oil makes the assorted items into one, with out shedding the wooden texture,” defined Vandewalle, “the joints have been additionally not stuffed in to make the grid of the ground readable and to attain a selected brutality.”

“The daylight performs with the extreme petroleum color, typically has a light-weight after which a darkish look – completely different at each second of the day.”

Very similar to Jürgen Vandewalle, Belgian structure studio organized a small home in Ghent round a wedge-shaped storage quantity. Inside it contained the kitchen, laundry amenities and further space for storing.

Images is by Karen Van der Biest.