A single-storey house in Flemish Brabant.

An existing house, renovated and extended: a new insulated envelope, a brick facing, a veranda opening onto the garden.

A single-storey house, typical of social housing estates: every element was rationalised, leaving little room for change. The young owner wanted to refresh the home, insulate it and rethink the layout of the interior walls.

The living room, dining room and kitchen shared two compact rooms, next to a utility room as large as the living room. Among the scenarios proposed, the choice fell on a dual-aspect living room and a kitchen-dining room separate from the living space, by redistributing the utility room. In the entrance hall, moving the toilet door to the side wall frees up space for a cloakroom.

The gable was there before the project. It is still there, differently.1 It carried light cladding over the original masonry. The project did not demolish it: it wrapped it. Against the old façade, a new brick facing rises from the base to the ridge. The window frames are replaced. One opening disappears, a door opens with its brick bay, the annex receives a new opening.

Insulating from the outside, with thermal bridges treated in detail: the interior floor area is kept, heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer are reduced. Everything then depends on the junctions: the base of the façade, the edges of the window frames, the roof verge. That is where water and air get through, and it is what can no longer be seen once the works are finished.2 Every junction is drawn before being built, and checked before being covered. Anything that needs redoing is recorded in the site report, with a photo.

On the garden side, the façade extends into a veranda. In the evening, the brick catches the light of the wall lamps. It is the same house, in a different light.