Weekend House in Wachtebeke by GAFPA

Architects: GAFPA.
Location: Wachtebeke, Belgium.
Area: 130.0 sqm.
Completed: 2014.

What makes a weekend house? Young architects GAFPA fancied to land in Wachtebeke for what could be a weekend house. The project earned them a special mention during the recent Belgian Building Awards. The weekend house exemplifies an idiosyncratic oeuvre that ranges from staging exhibitions to landscape projects.

The clients, who live in an apartment in the city of Ghent, sought a refuge from the hectic life. GAFPA distilled from their desire a “temporary stay” close to their home town. The weekend house turns away from the road and focuses resolutely on the adjacent agricultural field. The entrance is hidden behind a hedge. The front door is protected by an expanded metal hatch, like the windows of the bedrooms.

The building is raised from the ground level. The interiors are arranged in a U-shaped plan. At each end of the U-shape there is a living room with a covered outdoor area. The glass wedge links the living spaces, but also allows for separation. In this narrow patio is an open concrete water basin pushed under the volume, a small bush winds its way to the open space. The garden dissolves into the landscape. A specially chosen tree was planted so that it sheds his crown shadows on the glass facade during summer months. At the bottom of the tree lies a boulder. Against the house others serve as stepping stones to get to the level of the house or the terrace.

The way this wooden house rests on the concrete surfaces is reminiscent of traditional Japanese architecture. This is reinforced by the stepping stones that give access to the elevated terrace, in itself almost an allusion to the engawa, the Japanese covered porch. This property is a successful exercise in the sensitive handling of program and environment.