— Project intent
A precise answer to the site and programme.
This newly built single-family house in Waterloo, in the Walloon Brabant province of Belgium, was designed around a principle of landscape integration that prioritises the existing green structure of the plot over any frontal architectural statement. STARC, the architecture firm behind the project, positioned the built volume deep within the generous plot, allowing the continuous trimmed hedge along the street boundary to act as a natural facade and mediate between the private garden and the public domain.
The house offers approximately 250 m² of living space arranged over two floors with accessible attic space, including three bedrooms, a study and a single-car garage. The compact massing engages respectfully with the surrounding residential fabric: the relationship between the main volume and the garage is carefully composed to reduce the perceived mass from the street while maintaining a domestic scale consistent with the neighbouring houses. A gently pitched roof reinforces this volumetric restraint.
The building's orientation channels natural light into the main living areas, which open onto the private garden at the rear, while service rooms and the garage face the street. Glazing is treated with restraint on the lateral boundaries to protect the mutual privacy of neighbouring properties. The material palette remains deliberately neutral and understated, in keeping with the tones characteristic of residential architecture in Wallonia.
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