ellen & matthias
The renovated ground floor offered an open and generous spatial framework, creating opportunities to further define the different living areas through a series of bespoke interventions. By incorporating one of the doors into a full-height wall of cabinetry, the circulation became more intuitive. A structural beam above the kitchen worktop was clad in mirrored glass, allowing it to visually disappear. This subtle intervention redirects attention to the remaining red-painted beams and column, extending the architect's strategy of leaving the structural elements exposed. The rounded peninsula creates a fluid transition between the kitchen and dining area, encouraging a natural flow through the space. The clients' original colour palette was carefully refined into a balanced composition in which colours and materials complement one another.
Once the kitchen had been completed, the area beneath the staircase offered the opportunity for an additional custom intervention. Conversations with the clients revealed a range of practical needs: a wardrobe, a bar cabinet, a bench and even a discreetly concealed litter box for their cat. While this combination of functions may seem unexpected, the careful interplay of volumes, colours and materials brings them together into a coherent made-to-measure element. Though independent from the kitchen, it adopts the same material palette and design language, establishing a subtle dialogue between the two interventions.
Architecture by Studio Toto.
(pictures by Inneke Gebruers)
