Selected Projects by Belgian Interior Architect Arjaan de Feyter.

Belgian architect Arjaan De Feyter brands his work as ‘architecture for the soul’. His minimal designs, stripped of unnecessary embellishment, hone in on pure materials with strong attention to detail.

With a penchant for peculiar spaces, including a converted malt distillery and a series of old silos, we’ve gathered a few of our most favourite projects by De Feyter. Get across them!

Office ADF // A dark stained timber boardroom table is perhaps our favourite striking feature within Office ADF, but there are a few to choose from, which is understandable considering this is De Feyter’s own office. As well as housing his team, the space doubles as a benchmark display of the firm’s signatory sophisticated style. The double height windows flanked by wispy linen curtains, as emulated in Cube Office, make an appearance, as do the black steel framed glass panels that border offshoot meeting rooms. The bathroom, clad entirely with natural stone and featuring a corner bathtub, is among the nicer we’ve seen in a workplace. We guess relaxing baths aren’t the worst idea to incorporate into the corporate world, right?

Cube Office for Boutique Law Firm // Antwerp law firm Deknudt Nelis instructed De Feyter to make their office look just like his very own studio. Occupying a refurbished malt factory, Feyter settled on warm materials that radiate confidence and unity for the 140 sqm space. A minimal colour palette and whitewashed surfaces contrast slabs of dark green marble with prominent white veins, used for kitchen bench tops and splashback, and to line the back of a full-height display unit in the boardroom. Dark oak motifs and walnut desks in senior offices pay subtle homage to the English banking system, whereby solidarity and wealth reign supreme. Luxurious elements such as a tiered polished brass pendant light and dark green curtains that drape over double height windows add a touch of drama. Glass panelling rather than solid walls help to keep the space feeling light irrespective of dark materiality and finishes.

Silo Apartment M-M // In a redeveloped a former malting distillery on the banks of a canal just outside Antwerp, this apartment occupies four old silos that formerly stored grain. The 200 sqm space is home to a couple with adult children, situated on the third floor of the building. Connected by short corridors, three of the four concrete silos retain their cellular shape, with one converted into a square containing the open kitchen and dining room. De Feyter inserted two more straight walls, breaking up certain rooms for both functional and visual purpose, but for the most part embraced the silo’s circular form, leaving the original concrete walls exposed. Linen curtains encircle the living room, creating privacy as well as an acoustic barrier. Built-in Moroccan style furniture adds to the sculptural nature of Silo Apartment, as if the entire structure were modelled by hand. Natural materials create a sophisticated, restrained aesthetic, with custom elements including titanium-toned travertine slabs, manually polished silvered ash cabinets, and bespoke black oak furniture.

Poolhouse S-W // In collaboration with architect Herman Boonen, De Feyter went ham on this pool house, taking full liberty with the fact that not being a fulltime residence, décor could afford to be a little more ‘loud’. Namely, the striking Iranian pink travertine corner bar is begging to host post-dip drinks. The floor-to-ceiling slab resembles a rock cut straight from a quarry, and works in striking contrast to the masculine hand-brushed oak panels. Clever practicalities such as a cabinet wall that conceals a foldout double bed make this particular pool house worth more than just its weight in party potential.

[Images courtesy of Arjaan de Feyter. Photography by Piet Albert Goethals.]