FORM / STUDIO

11 / 12Ostend, BelgiumHospitality2022

North House

A pale hotel room with oak furniture, tall windows and a black steel shelving screen.

A guesthouse behind the sea dike, where sand and salt arrive on everything. Each surface was chosen for how it would look after ten winters, rather than on opening day.

Location
Ostend, Belgium
Year
2022
Project type
Hospitality
Status
Completed
Surface area
382 m²
Scope
Interior architecture, eight rooms, restaurant fit-out
Textiles
Studio F. (fictional)

Fictional project. Photographs are illustrative stock and do not show a building by FORM Studio.

Brief

Eight rooms and a small restaurant, run by a family who wanted to be able to maintain it themselves. That sentence shaped more decisions than any sketch: soap instead of varnish, washable covers, nothing that needs a specialist to repair it.

The rooms face away from the sea on the ground floor and towards it above. Upstairs, the bed sits where the horizon is visible from the pillow.

D01SiteSite planIllustrative drawing
Site: illustrative site planIllustrative site plan showing the building in black among 4 neighbouring volumes, beside Sea dike and North Sea.North SeaSea dikeN010 m
A white bed with an iron frame, a stool and framed pictures on a white wall.
Fig. 1 Room 5. A single wall lamp, and an iron bed found locally.
A white bed with a timber headboard in a bright room.
Fig. 2 Room 2. Timber headboard with integrated light.
D02Ground floorPlanIllustrative drawing
Ground floor: illustrative floor planIllustrative plan of about 18.00 by 10.60 metres containing Lobby, Lounge, Dining room, Room 1, Room 2, Service, Kitchen. The numbered key beside the drawing lists each room.12345674.005.003.001.005.0018.006.004.60AAN05 m
  1. 1Lobby22.8 m²
  2. 2Lounge46.3 m²
  3. 3Dining room34.6 m²
  4. 4Room 119.6 m²
  5. 5Room 219.6 m²
  6. 6Service17.4 m²
  7. 7Kitchen21.9 m²

Light

Coastal light is harsh and flat. Double layers of unlined linen soften it through the day and let the planting outside cast loose shadows into the room. In the evening, the same curtains hide the car park.

Sheer linen curtains with sunlight and the shadows of leaves falling through them.
Fig. 3 Linen in the lounge, west light.
A black vase with a dry plant on a shelf above soft white bedding.
Fig. 4 Bedside, room 7.
D03Section A–ASectionIllustrative drawing
Section A–A: illustrative sectionIllustrative section cut through the building, 8.6 metres to the highest point.LoungeGuest room+0.00+3.20+6.0005 m
A small black timber building on open coastal ground under a pale sky.
Fig. 5 The former boat store at the rear, stained black and kept for bicycles.

Material schedule

  1. M01

    Pale oak

    Floors, headboards, desks

    Soap-finished and easy to re-treat by the staff themselves, with no contractor and no closure.

  2. M02

    Linen

    Curtains, bedding

    Washed before it was hung. The first shrinkage has already happened, and it creases honestly.

  3. M03

    Painted steel

    Room screens, window frames

    Marine-grade coating in a soft black. Chips are touched up with a small tin kept in each housekeeping cupboard.