FORM / STUDIO

12 / 12Kortrijk, BelgiumRenovation2022

Residence R

A terraced brick house, taken back to its walls and then left mostly alone.

A bed with crumpled linen against a raw, patchy plaster wall in morning light.

Stripping back the plaster revealed more than the owners expected: old brick, patchy repairs, the ghost of a staircase. They decided to live with it. The renovation therefore became a question of what to add, not what to cover.

Location
Kortrijk, Belgium
Year
2022
Project type
Renovation
Status
Completed
Surface area
156 m²
Scope
Renovation, rear extension, kitchen and bathrooms
Structure
Bureau T. (fictional)

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

Existing structure

Four rooms, one on top of another, in a 1920s terrace. A series of owners had added plasterboard, carpet and false ceilings. When they came out, the rooms gained 30 centimetres of height and an unexpected character. The owners cancelled the plastering contract during the second site visit.

A white wall with worn patches of exposed masonry and a large plant.
Fig. 1 Front room wall, plaster partly removed.
A window shadow on a partly stripped wall, with a large plant in the foreground.
Fig. 2 The same wall, in the first low sun of spring.
Exposed old brick beside smooth plaster and a metal door.
Fig. 3 Where old brick meets new plaster, with a steel door to the cellar.
D01Ground floorPlanIllustrative drawing
Ground floor: illustrative floor planIllustrative plan of about 6.80 by 17.40 metres containing Front room, Hall, Kitchen, Garden room. The numbered key beside the drawing lists each room.Garden12343.803.006.804.604.204.604.00AAN05 m
  1. 1Front room16.5 m²
  2. 2Hall12.9 m²
  3. 3Kitchen27.3 m²
  4. 4Garden room29.9 m²

Addition

At the back, a single room opens the house to the garden. It is built in the same brick as the old rear wall, which remains exposed inside as the room’s back wall. A narrow rooflight runs along the joint so that the old wall gets the most light in the house.

D02Section A–ASectionIllustrative drawing
Section A–A: illustrative sectionIllustrative section cut through the building, 8.7 metres to the highest point, with the retained structure shown in grey.Front room, kitchenBedroomGarden room+0.00+3.10+5.9005 m■ Retained ■ New
D03Garden elevationElevationIllustrative drawing
Garden elevation: illustrative elevationIllustrative elevation in brick, about 6.8 metres wide.05 m
A whitewashed brick wall lit by a low band of sunlight on the floor.
Fig. 4 Rear wall of the old house, now inside the extension.
A bathroom with terracotta wall tiles, a stone basin and a round mirror.
Fig. 5 Bathroom, first floor.
A dark wooden table and a small plant against a tall wall of old brick.
Fig. 6 Dining room, against the party wall.

Material schedule

  1. M01

    Existing brick

    Party walls, kitchen, dining

    Cleaned by hand, left unsealed. Old repairs were not corrected.

  2. M02

    Raw plaster

    Bedrooms, front room

    A base coat with no finish. It stays pale, marks easily and repairs well.

  3. M03

    Glazed terracotta

    Bathroom walls

    The one new colour in the house, chosen to match the brick at the point where it has weathered darkest.