In Ternat, amidst a multitude of housing developments, standardised designs and site layouts, stands a remarkable house. It towers head and shoulders above the mundane rooftops. Taller and wider than its neighbours, this house appears oversized; yet it seeks to minimise its footprint on the site. However, the quality of the house lies not only in the generous spaces it offers, but in its reinterpretation of pre-war rationalist architecture.

The restrictive shape of the plot – a rectangle cut off by the street at a 60° angle – provided the impetus for an exercise in spatial planning. Blaf architects succeeded in developing a layout within the challenging geometric form of the triangle. The living spaces are spread across three identical storeys, each rotated by a quarter turn in relation to its surroundings. Whilst the ground floor opens onto the garden, the first floor establishes a relationship with the street, and the second floor offers a sweeping view of the surroundings. Spatiality is created within the triangle by providing a living room with an oversized window on each floor. By situating the vertical circulation in the corners, the spatial experience also extends between the floors. “We weren’t looking for a fireworks display of fantastic ideas, but rather for what makes living special,” explains architect Bart Vanden Driessche.