Graceful Contrasts: Sint Benedictus House in Mortsel by Poot Architectuur.

Embracing a push-pull force along its facades, this long and narrow townhouse in Mortsel, Belgium, seems to be almost squashed by its two neighbours and bulging at the seams.

There’s something quite Gaudi-esque about the floorplan of Sint Benedictus House. Contained within a simple rectangular form, the footprint has been inset with an oval-cut diamond. With this oval form at its centre, the external facade walls seem to almost rebound off this feature, taking with it the otherwise rectangular rooms and, instead, giving us the soft organic form of the home.

Renovation of a Row House in Antwerp by Bovenbouw.

Within this Row House, spaces become defined by an intersection of material, texture and colour. The project unfolds as a pastiche of different voices...

A sunken lounge, referencing the almost 70s era of the townhouses nearby occupies one of the many ‘bulges’ of the home. Swelling out towards the garden, the living area leaves behind straight walls, and embraces a more organic feeling of being held within a womb-like volume. Complete with an emerald green carpet, soft window furnishings and a circular skylight, there’s something quite calming about the way the dappled light funnels into this particular part of the home.

With the kitchen tucked around the central oval stair, it feels more like a part of the home that’s tucked behind a laneway from a street, rather than the typical heart-of-the-home gesture that most kitchens are typically associated with. Long and narrow, perhaps the thing that makes it even more unique is its double-heighted nature. Enabling two-storey street-facing windows, the kitchen is drenched with natural light. Above, typical rooms such as bedrooms, studies and bathrooms spiral off the central oval staircase, and spew onto balconies that overlook both the street and the backyard.

Mar Vista House in Los Angeles by Part Office.

More than a dozen “white” materials with slight tactile and tonal shifts coalesce into one unified design language in this 1953 West Los Angeles bungalow...

Constructed largely out of harsh and cold materials, the concrete and the brickwork unexpectedly carry a sense of softness and grace about them. Perhaps it’s their gentle curvature, or maybe it’s the skin-like pinkiness of the bricks.

Paired with soft eucalyptus-toned paints, green marble and deep reds throughout the interior, Sint Benedictus House carries a gentle balance between materiality, form and a graceful push-pull force within a family home.

Organic Forms Meet Precise Minimalism: Highbury House by Daytrip Studio.

This redesign balances sensual organic forms with precise minimalism. Sweeping curved walls and a restrained material palette...

[Images courtesy of Poot Architectuur. Photography by Stijn Bollaert.]