Echoing the Volume of the Original Rectory
In the Belgian municipality of Schoten, on the edge of Antwerp, is a new house adjacent to the 15th century Horst Chapel which once served enough pilgrims to also support three inns. The three-story house is built on the site of the lost 19th century rectory (priest’s house). Antwerp-based Polygoon Architectuur designed the house based on a polygonal plan, but used the volume of the original rectory as the point of departure for the house’s design. The width of the front facade, height of the eaves, and angle of the roof are the same. The basic form is folded open into a pentagonal floor plan with two right angles. The outer walls, with elongated frameless windows, are oriented toward anchor points in the historical surroundings.
A spiral staircase leads up from the entrance to the living spaces upstairs on the second floor. The rear facade is entirely cut away and opens out onto a large terrace. Another spiral staircase, within a tubular steel casing, connects the terrace with the garden.
The house is close to the street, in parallel with the building line of the chapel. A visual narrowing is created by the side facades and pitched roof converging towards the street facade, echoing and strengthened once more the gateway effect of the former hamlet and place of pilgrimage, ‘Den Horst’. The choice of materials refers back to the vernacular architecture of that time – traditional materials such as red brick and natural slate, which are also to be found in the chapel.
The layout, with the sleeping areas on the first (ground) floor and the living space on the floor above, is atypical but has certain advantages. This way the bedrooms remain cool and everyone has direct access to the garden. Upstairs, there is a lot of room under the pitched roof. A mezzanine is placed below the apex of the roof, overlooking a more intimate second floor sitting area underneath it. The partially covered terrace that is connected to the living space offers an expansive view of the nature reserve that lies behind the home.
Project: Free-standing residence on historic site / Location: Horstebaan 101, 2900 Schoten / Designer: Polygoon Architectuur / Photography: Stijn Bollaert / Client: Private / Structural Engineering: Planet / Building Services Engineering and Energy Performance: Studie 10 / General Contractor: Gravo / Interior Joinery and Furniture: VD Projects – Paul Van Dooren / Area: 266m2 / Completion: 2018 / Photograph: Stijn Bollaert
