Room in the City in Leuven, Belgium by 51N4E.

Our city’s public spaces hold immeasurable social value and play a vital role in shaping our communities. Whether it is a market, piazza, playground or park, these spaces have the potential to elicit a sense of belonging and encourage diverse groups and activities to share common ground.

So what happens when you bring this civic spirit into a private setting? The clever team at 51N4E explored this very notion in a residential project in Leuven, Belgium.

Room in the City emerges as the connection point between an archetypical terrace house and a newly acquired neighbouring plot. The contemporary, open and playful space becomes the central square that is surrounded by the existing terrace home, adjoining brick shed and garden. The garden which is enclosed by a mesh perimeter becomes an open-air room with wistfully hanging wisteria and an oversized water element.

According to the architects, “the home could suddenly transform into a collection of connected spaces with very diverse characters, clustered around a very big, high and bright space that becomes the centre of the project.”

Related: Stories on Design // Outdoor Rooms.

The new central room stylistically challenges the status quo of brick and timber but the contrast is so refreshing. The architects describe the design as “a careful collision of building elements: a terrazzo floor slab, a thin concrete staircase, a green clay covered wall, a large sliding window and a floating glass and stretched metal roof.”

Each element takes on a sculptural impression, from the Luis Barragán-style floating staircase and the noteworthy floor transitions to the mesh roof profile that sits delicately on concrete walls, each detail feels intentional in the space.

While the surrounding structures are more closed-off and cosy, the new addition starts to blur the threshold between inside and outside as well as public and private.

Room in the City is defined by its atmosphere rather than having one specific function. There is a sense of continuity of the public realm where spaces become a shared resource from which experiences are created in ways that are not possible in enclosed, private spaces alone.

[Images courtesy of 51N4E. Photography by Maxime Delvaux.]