House MA

The client wishes to build a dental practice with an apartment above. The plot opens up along two sides and has a magnificent view to a new marina to be developed along the channel of Ingelmunster at the back of the plot. Stringent building codes dictate a maximum building envelope of 3 storeys (STEP 1). The dental practice should focus on the marina, the apartment on the Waterstraat (STEP 2).

A two-sided exposure for the dental practice on the one hand, and optimal daylight entering the apartment on the other hand, results in a program stack instead of separation (STEP 3). The maximum building envelope is manipulated in order to provide two south facing terraces for the apartment above (STEP 4). The building reads as a combination of three geometric volumes, stacked gradually on top of each other (STEP 5).