B-bis published twice in book 'Homes for Modernists'
Published twice! The brand new Lannoo book 'Homes for Modernists' compiles 20 modernist homes, including not one but two B-bis realisations. Our team renovated both the John Lautner look-a-like home of B-architect Dirk Engelen and a seventies Mad Men bungalow in Brussels, using our signature style: we gave both houses a future-proof update, without compromising the original architecture.
There’s no visible sign that the home was tackled in its entirety by B-bis. The renovation is so perfectly in line with the original architecture that it’s almost impossible to tell what is original and what has been renovated.
You could call this unique concrete villa the Belgian Giro. Or Lautner in the Kempen. Architect Dirk Engelen renovated the brutalist UFO into an absolute masterpiece.
ArchitectenWoning is a Belgian estate agency, specialised in property 'with added architectural value'. It is through this agency that Dirk Engelen, co-founder of B-architecten and B-bis, came across this unique brutalist gem in Lichtaart. The round house standing on pilotis would seem more likely in California than in the wooded Kempen region of Antwerp.
The circular villa is the life's work of relatively unknown architect Jackie Cuylen, built for his brother Jan. They worked on it together for a long six years, since it was a tough job in terms of building requirements. It goes without saying that Cuylen found inspiration in the work of American architect John Lautner, which he saw on a trip to the USA.
Structured in concrete discs, Elrod House (1968) is close in concept to Engelen's own Villa Ronda. The circular living areas are arranges around a spiral staircase in the heart of the home. Engelen placed the downstairs entrance hall a little to the outside, creating a ground-floor 'conservatory for conetmporary works of art'. In terms of energy, Engelen once again made the home future-proof, without disturbing the architecture. It is an imperceptible exercise in balance that B-bis has pulled off more than once on unusual examples of modern heritage.
- on House ES.
What is original and what has been restored and renovated? Those questions are irrelevant in this sympathetically refurbished 1970s low-build villa in true Mad Men style.
The entrance to this meticulously renovated 1970s home in the outskirts of Brussels welcomes guests in style. Large exterior stairs and a long walkway take you to the glass front door, the drawn-out appetiser for a fantastic architectural main course reminiscent of Mad Men.
The villa on the Brussels periphery was designed by architect José Vanden Bossche, who lived and worked here. In magazines from the 1970s, you'll find his funky interior with space-age furniture in psychedelic colours. The new owners preferred not to live in such a retro setting, despite their collection of mid-century classics by Alfred Henrdickx, Eero Saarinen, Charles & Ray Eames and Ludvik Volak.
There's not visible sign that the home was tackled in its entirety by B-bis. No changed were made to the flow. The aluminium and wooden slatted ceilings in the hall and office were completely restored. 'This building already had so much character of its own. You can't just come up with something like this,' the owners tell us. The contemporary stamp of B-bis is felt mainly in the kitchen, bathrooms and pool house. The view of the garden used to be blocked by an annoying pavilion for an outdoor swimming pool. The architects had that demolished and installed an outdoor pool with a new pool house. That is so perfectly in line with the original architecture that it's almost impossible to tell what is original and what has been renovated.
- on House MB.