FAMILY TREE

FOR A NEPHEW AND HIS WIFE, AXEL VERVOORDT—ALONG WITH LONGTIME COLLABORATOR ARCHITECT TATSURO MIKI—CRAFTS A PEACEFUL, POETIC HOME IN THE BELGIAN COUNTRYSIDE

- MICHAEL JAMES GARDNER

“THERE ARE NO RULES to what we do,” says Axel Vervoordt. “Everything is chosen by feeling. In this house, we wanted it to feel comfortable, serene, and silent, with a sense of oneness with the surrounding nature. This is the essence of what we tried to achieve.”

The remarkable effects of this approach are on full display in a recently completed project, an inviting and elegant country house nestled in the quiet, leafy suburbs 20 minutes outside of Antwerp, Belgium.

A few distinctive storylines define the modest former gardener’s cottage’s destiny. First, for the polymathic Belgian designer, the project was personal. The owners are relatives, the eldest son and daughter-in-law of Vervoordt’s only sister. (Full transparency: I am also a member of the family, married to Vervoordt’s son Boris.)

Second, for design aficionados and nature lovers alike, the home has a unique location. The plot of land sits at the edge of the park of the Castle of 's-Gravenwezel—the iconic home the AD100 Hall of Famer has shared with his wife, May, since 1984.

“I was happy that one of my nephews came to live near us,” says Vervoordt. “The proximity of family is a timeless aspect of life in many world cultures. It promotes the sense of an exchange of energy by living close to each other.”

RIGHT A PAINTING BY AXEL VERVOORDT, MADE WHEN HE WAS A TEENAGER, HANGS IN THE KITCHEN. THE WALLS ARE PAINTED IN A CUSTOM LIME WASH BY DOMINGUE, AND THE CABINETRY AND DOOR FEATURE A CUSTOM-MADE COLOR. LEFT A 1963 PAINTING BY JEF VERHEYEN HANGS ABOVE THE LIVING ROOM FIREPLACE.