— Project intent
A precise answer to the site and programme.
In Marche-Les-Dames, in the province of Namur (Wallonia), this project involves the full renovation and vertical extension of an existing single-storey family home, nestled within a wooded setting against the characteristic slopes of the Meuse valley. The architectural approach takes as its starting point the successful landscape integration already achieved by the existing building, with its dark pitched roof and ochre brick masonry, and treats this as a value to be preserved and extended.
The added storey expands the living programme with bedrooms and a dedicated workspace. Designed by the architecture firm STARC, the new volume responds to the existing building in terms of massing, materiality and facade rhythm, so that the two levels read as a coherent and unified whole. The articulation between old and new is carefully resolved to avoid any sense of formal discontinuity or architectural addition.
The upper-level fenestration is oriented to draw in natural light while framing carefully composed views onto the surrounding tree canopy. The comprehensive renovation of the thermal envelope simultaneously upgrades the building's energy performance and overall compactness, to the lasting benefit of the occupants. The project exemplifies a contextual and restrained approach to residential architecture in Belgium, where every formal decision is grounded in the dialogue between built fabric and dense natural landscape.
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