Repetition in Red

An old coach house from 1907 on the domain of a charming belle époque villa, renovated and transformed into a contemporary artists' studio. The original building sported some adorable features: old-style brickwork on the outside, a touch of grandeur in the coach gates, the view of the garden with beeches and acacias, an impressive twenty metres of windowed walls, a set of curved wooden stairs, and small, details like the elegant stained glass owls. Élise launched the building into the twenty-first century while preserving its original character.

The old wooden staircase as well as the repetitive arch of the windows, accentuated in scarlet steel, have a central place in the design. The perpendicular wall is 'cut' open and replaced by a large glass wall with a view of the garden. With sliding translucent panels in the inner walls three separate volumes can be created.

The result is a contemporary multifunctional space that still breathes the spirit of the farmer coach house. As a whole, it's spacious, but it comprises four distinctive rooms: an office, a workshop, an exhibition space and a storage room — an irresistible hangout for an aperitif on sultry summer evenings.

(photographs by Filip Dujardin)