VIVA Architecture: Kan-goo-roo

Design of a sustainable house for two families with a shared common space. The house is constructed around an inner garden patio, that serves as an entrance to the individual units and, at the same time, generates mutual privacy.

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In a typical Flemish allotment the house is designed to host a woman her son and his wife. The kangaroo house is designed as a solid volume perforated with recesses, the volume is finished with facing brick laid with glue-mortar. Anthracite-colored aluminum panels emphasize the recesses. An aluminum frame that is slid around the windows accentuate the facade openings. The strict execution and the formal language of the simple volume contrast with the small scale farmhouses “fermettes” of the neighborhood.

Multifunctional patio

The challange of this house was to let the two families live together, but still separately. The ground floor consists of the living space for the couple and the entire mother’s unit, the bedrooms and bathroom are situated on the first floor. Both families live separately in this way but share the dining area, located at the intimate patio, forming a link between the two units. Designed as a recess in the building volume the patio generates more light and air in the building volume.

Mutual privacy is important in a kangaroo home, which is why both living spaces are located on a different side of the home, each with its own private outdoor space. The spaces around the patio are provided with thoughtfully positioned windows in order to avoid direct view of each other.

Location : Boechout

Area : 260 m²

Date : 2012 - 2014

Photography : Koen Broos