Biestebroeck was, is, and will be a place of production, initiative and activity. A place where working, learning, living coexist side by side. A place for everyone, a neighborhood for all.

Together with AHA, noArchitects and Sergison Bates Architects, we are working on the Citygate II / Petite Île project in Brussel after a competition won in 2019. Over the next few years, a new district with 400 flats, 15,000 m2 of workspace and a large school complex consisting of several buildings will be developed in Biestebroeck, a former industrial area in Anderlecht. The project is part of the 'Canal Plan' of the Brussels city architect, which specifically focuses on the idea of the productive city aiming at lively and productive city neighbourhoods with mixed programmes for working, producing, learning and living.

The urban ribbons on the outskirts of Rotterdam traditionally presented a mixed picture of industry, greenhouse horticulture and a few traditionally rather modest houses. Due to the growing scale of new individual urban villas in all kinds of styles and qualities, the informal charm of the place is increasingly under pressure. The new house, turned inwards, is built entirely in CLT and shows greater similarity to the original character of the place than to its new neighbours. From the outside it looks rather small and discreet, but on the inside it feels light, spacious and generous.

The monumental fire station on Paleisstraat in Antwerp, an Art Nouveau ensemble with officers' quarters, was built between 1908 and 1911, based on a design by Antwerp city architects Emiel van Averbeke, A.van Mechelen and Jan van Asperen. The impressive ensemble consisting of large halls, workshops, an inner courtyard and several group accommodations was used as a fire station for more than a century, so both the facades and the interior are exceptionally well preserved. From 2023, the building will be redeveloped into contemporary group homes. Five design teams worked on this complex design task, aiming to transform the building complex into a family-friendly, green, inner-city residential environment, while preserving the monumental qualities of the buildings.

The new building for the residential care centre at Parkhof replaces an existing elderly home consisting of two parts, one from the 1960s and the other from the 1990s. Neither building meets present-day standards and expectations. The earlier building has been demolished. The more recent structure, the "Q-building" will be refurbished and used as an office building for the client, the social services agency of Machelen (OCMW).

At first sight Oosterwold seemed to be a place too good to be true. Cheap land, building without aesthetic or any other restrictions, lots of space and a community consisting of like-minded neighbours. With this thought three couples came to us with their plan to pioneer in the polder, with little money, lots of space and great enthusiasm. House N&J is the first of the three related houses that has been inhabited by now, a second is in the making and when the last one will follow is still uncertain. The reality turned out to be more unruly than predicted. The market picked up, building became more expensive, contractors scarcer and pickier. Yet, after various obstacles and some delays, much of the original dream has been preserved.

Within a new development in Leonidas exist many independent family homes built as 'large garden houses'. Between the densely built houses there is little room for real gardens and hardly any privacy, rather there are many strong stucco or masonry volumes that have little to do with a garden house. The informal image that was originally intended by the municipality seems to have become lost. Foekje and Marcel, the residents of no. 9, initially struggled with the difference between dream and reality. They bought a very small plot on which they wanted to build a studio house. Due to heavy sustainability requirements, the outer walls of their small house became so thick that they had to have a 'permission-free extension' on the ground floor from the start. Hefty land prices meant there was no choice but to do it yourself, where inevitably construction took much longer than originally intended. Yet they do not regret their adventure for a moment.

The site for the new care campus in Kruishoutem is an exceptionally beautiful place with a long history. The new building replaces the wings of a neo-Gothic monastery, while the church is preserved. The existing park with monumental trees will be part of the new building complex. The project offers the opportunity to make the specific qualities of the site visible and accessible to the village community.

The program consists of residential care rooms, assisted living units and service flats, and it is almost four times larger than the original building. The vast volume needs to relate to the adjoining, graceful church.

In the context of the arts program "Beyond Utrecht", the municipality of Utrecht invited several "artists in residence" to live and work for a certain period in the new residential district of Leidsche Rijn. Their main task was to observe this place, at the time undergoing rapid change, and to develop interventions and responses to it. Their accommodation, a mobile studio, is also part of the art programme and would see multiple changes of residents and location during the planned activities.

Our main ambition was to design a movable building that would feel as large and robust as a house. It had to be versatile, practical and comfortable throughout the year.

In the hilly garden, originally the setting for a tiny temporary chalet, a French family with young children wished to construct a more durable home. Inspired by the publication of our House No. 19 project in a French magazine, they commissioned us to design a timber house around a small pine tree ("the bonsai"); the clients asked for a sturdy yet unconventional place to live for themselves, their many books and their art and design collections.

In 2001, a bright green object sitting on top of the lift shaft of the former Las Palmas warehouse served a three-dimensional logo, visible far and wide, for its host building, the large, industrial spaces of which were temporarily used for various exhibitions during Rotterdam’s year as European Capital of Culture. One of the exhibitions, Parasites, presented designs of small-scale objects intended for unused urban sites, making ‘parasitic’ use of their existing infrastructure. The exhibition was curated and organized by Mechthild Stuhlmacher and Rien Korteknie, involving an international group of architects. Taking advantage of the enterprising atmosphere of the year of culture, one of these designs was built to full scale. The roof of the warehouse, amidst the varied, spectacular roofscapes of the Port of Rotterdam, proved an ideal location.

*Parasites: prototypes for advanced ready-made amphibious small-scale individual temporary ecological dwellings

Uitdam is a small, picturesque village on the banks of the IJsselmeer. The clients found a small house to be demolished, next to the church and the dike, big enough for a new dwelling for two. Shape, materials, dimensions and the slope of the roof were almost fixed from the beginning. Spatial regulations in the area are very strict, as the inhabitants of the region, the municipality, and the tourists wish to protect the fragile, historically evolved cultural landscape with its present consistency and small-scale beauty.

The new house fits almost unnoticed in the existing neighbourhood; the dark colour of the façade, the traditional roof tiles and the sparkling white of both the edges of the roof and the window frames underline its familiarity with the traditional architecture of the area.

This country house on a beautiful site with unobstructed views over the dunes is intended for a large family with many guests. The design seeks connection to the small scale of the region, the traditional, small-scale rural architectural and the vast natural landscape. The pitch and direction of the roofs and the maximum building volume were predetermined by local municipal specifications.

To make room for the new building, an existing, small and slightly dilapidated farm from the 1950s was demolished. It consisted of a small house on the street and a large barn behind it, and despite its vast dimensions, it suited the small-scale character of the site.

The new building, in many respects, owes a great deal to its modest predecessor. The new house is also designed as an ensemble of house and barn, with two roofs, one hidden behind the other. The roadside façades are low and silent while the spacious space inside and the stunning views are revealed only upon entering the structure.

In the urban plan of Nesselande, a new city extension of Rotterdam, a large area has been reserved for private houses. Various canals give the new neighbourhood a generous and rather natural appearance, despite the high density and the rather limited sizes of the individual plots. In an area where most inhabitants choose their home from standard catalogues, the house for the "T family" stands out. The formal language of the design, with its simple, understated use of materials and its Cubistic shapes, refers to classical modern villas from the first half of the twentieth century. The mesh-like masonry reflects the cultural background of the clients and filters sunlight while preserving the clients’ privacy. 

Very small houses built according to the strict building regulations of the bungalow park, located in a beautiful spot with grand views over the landscape. We enjoyed the small commissions and took them just as seriously as larger ones. Thanks to the efforts of the excellent contractor and the involvement by and the pleasant communication with the clients, the small series of three similar houses turned into a pleasant design and building process.

On a generous plot on the edge of Heiloo, a village in the province of Noord-Holland, a derelict house has been replaced by a newly built family home.  Here, different generations and people of different ages and needs live together under one roof. 

On the "Steigereiland" on IJburg, the most recent large-scale city extension of Amsterdam, some of the terraces of private houses have been given to individuals to build their own house. The project follows a successful example of a similar row of private houses built in the 1990s by different architects for a variety of clients on Borneo-Sporenburg.

Le Medi is a colourful enclave attracting a variety of different inhabitants, young families in particular. Its inclusive character is exceptional for its location, as the neighbourhood is dominated by immigrants. The project therefore contributes to the social and cultural development of the area.

Within the ambitious revitalisation of Rotterdam Bospolder, a building block inspired by the architecture from the countries around the Mediterranean Sea was initiated. Years of discussions and various preliminary schemes have resulted in a dense, colourful building block with several carefully defined semi-public spaces, and simple back-to-back dwellings with a covered parking garage on the ground floor and a formal square in the centre. The project hopes to offer a suitable place for people of various cultural backgrounds to live in. For that reason the scheme consists of a number of basic houses that sell for a small price and can be extended in the future.

The area Strijp S, a wide plot between two colossal former industrial buildings, will in the future be developed as a mixed-use residential area with shops. The urban master plan proposes two large square-shaped building sites with small-scale, kasbah-like buildings with large parking garages underneath.

The Homeruskwartier is a new neighbourhood in Almere, set up with the aim to accommodate future clients' wishes. In 2007 an ambitious competition was organised for developers and architects to develop housing solutions for the different parts of the neighbourhood. Commissioned by housing corporation ‘De Alliantie’, our entry won the competition with the concept ‘Het rekkelijke huis’, an untranslatable Dutch expression for a house that is extendable, expandable and multifunctional. 

On the Kleine Rieteiland (‘little island of reeds’), one of the islands that form the Amsterdam suburb of IJburg, several terraces of relatively wide houses have been reserved for individuals to build their own patio-houses. For a family with young children and parents working from home, we designed a timber house offering generous, simple and flexible spaces, with a combination of large openings and areas of privacy. 

In our eyes houses for private clients are wonderful opportunities to work on the very essence of architecture. Since the establishment of our office, we regularly had the opportunity to work on various assignments for private clients. We built recreation houses, a 20-person cottage, family homes, an artist studio, experimental houses or a stately villa in a suburb. Our houses are located in cities, villages and beautiful landscapes, they are temporary and permanent, large or (very) small, new or old and differ as much as their residents.