The site was not generous. A narrow strip between the existing house and the road, already occupied in plan by an approved carport, bordered by a neighbour on one side and traffic on the other. The programme called for a living space, a bedroom, and a bathroom: a place to live, not merely to shelter.
The solution borrows from the logic of the courtyard. A continuous brick wall runs along the road, holding back noise and the gaze of passers-by. Behind it, the volume opens entirely upwards: a glazed strip runs along the perimeter at the top of the wall, bringing in the sky, the tree canopy, and the full arc of the sun throughout the day. Privacy is complete. Light is abundant. The contradiction resolves itself quietly.
From the street, the extension appears as a modest low brick wall, discreet and unassuming. From within, it becomes something else: a room wrapped in masonry at eye level, open to the sky above.
The architecture does not seek to reveal itself. It simply works...and works well.
Annex in Biron
A room that looks to the sky, not the street.Type: Residential, Conceptuel
Surface: ~50 m²
Year: 2026
Location: Biron, Belgique
Project Team: Peter Jahnke, Eric Meglasson
Surface: ~50 m²
Year: 2026
Location: Biron, Belgique
Project Team: Peter Jahnke, Eric Meglasson
The wall as a gift
The brick wall facing the road is the first gesture of the project, and the most important one. It is not defensive...it is liberating.
By completely closing off the street at eye level, it allows the interior to open in every other direction: upward towards the sky, outward through the glazing towards the private garden, and inward towards the warmth of the existing home.
The wall that appears to subtract becomes the very condition for everything the space gains.
The sky as ceiling
The glazed band that wraps the volume creates a subtle separation between roof and walls, making the ceiling appear to float above the inhabited space. Inside, the occupant is protected without ever being disconnected from the outside world.
The sun accompanies the room throughout its daily journey, from the eastern light of morning to the western glow at dusk, revealing the changing qualities of daylight across hours and seasons.
Without direct views of the landscape, the space ultimately opens onto something even more expansive: the sky.
Brick on brick
The extension speaks the same material language as the house it joins. Not through imitation, but through respect.
The same red brick, the same bond, a continuous base that makes the new volume feel discovered rather than added. What distinguishes the extension is not its material, but its section: where the existing house rises across two levels beneath a pitched roof, the addition settles low and horizontal. It is a quiet counterpoint that earns its place without demanding attention.