PILI House Extension Gent, Belgium home expansion, Flanders property, Belgian residence design

PILI House Extension, Gent, Belgium

13 June 2024

Design: ZOOM architecten

Location: Gent, East Flanders, Flemish Region of Belgium

Photos: Evenbeeld

PILI House Extension, Belgium

Peter and Liselore live in a handsome civic home from the ’54s. A beautiful, characterful home that is sadly lacking in spaces for them. They desire a place for their new kitchen, a laundry room with shower and an extra bedroom. The request comes to do a renovation of their existing home, with new addition.

Living By The Garden
The existing house will be renovated and expanded with a new living kitchen. The existing garage and existing extension will be demolished and make way for a new volume across the full width of the plot. This creates a space 8 meters wide with full-width contact with the garden.

We design a low new building volume with pointed roof that fits quietly into its context. The limited cornice height of the new volume is compensated by the large height centrally under the pointed roof. Between the extension and the existing house we create a patio. This provides maximum light and air in all living spaces.

In the main building, the existing spaces of character are preserved. Here, with lifelong living in mind, the possible integration of a bedroom is taken into account.

Light-filled Home
The new extension is divided into an indoor and outdoor space. The outdoor space is partially covered and forms the passageway directly from the driveway to the garden. The large accordion window that separates the interior space from this passageway can be fully opened, allowing the covered exterior space to serve as an extension of the living space. The boundary between inside and outside blurs.

Above the outdoor space, a large opening in the roof is provided on the west side. Through this way, the light from the setting sun penetrates deep into the new living space. The result is an extension bathed in daylight. Bringing the greenery of the garden right up to the rear façade gives Liselore and Peter the feeling that they are living in the middle of the garden.