In Bazel, in the east of the Waasland region, Bovenbouw has realised a black-coloured bungalow on a sloping site. In a subtle and slightly ironic way, the house plays with local and international elements.

For current generations of architects in Belgium, too, the detached house within a housing development remains a possibility, albeit usually as an exception within a body of work. It is a way of realising architectural beauty – that category which has become as evident as it is impossible, replaced by the vaguer term ‘quality’ – in a project that is, on the one hand, based on isolation, yet remains omnipresent on the other. It is one of the many paradoxes of suburban living: a house seems to lay claim to an open landscape in various ways, 360 degrees all around, whilst the neighbours to the left and right are less than ten metres away.