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DUE TO ITS LOCATION IN BELGIUM'S MEYLANDT-OBBEEK NATURE RESERVE, THE CHALLENGE FOR THIS HOME'S DESIGNERS WAS TO COME UP WITH A STRUCTURE AND INTERIOR THAT DID JUSTICE TO ITS SPECTACULAR POSITION IN THE MIDDLE OF AN IMMENSE FOREST.

- MARC HELDENS

And it was a challenge that Dorien Cooreman of interior design firm Moka Projects and Elizabet Iglesias of ILB Architecten (who has since started her own practice, Iglesias Architects) were happy to take on. The question was, how does one cut down as few trees as possible, but still create a functional layout that meets the owners’ list of requirements?

The answer was a home that optimally embraces the inside-outside relationship — a symbiosis of open and closed, architecture and interiors, as well as comfort and functionality. Specific living areas are oriented towards the forest so the glass fronts could be completely transparent, while the sides of the villa — all angular lines of stone and dark wooden cladding — have a more closed character.

With its geometric volumes, the striking overhang of the large flat roof and the completely transparent glass facade, this villa is reminiscent of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House #22. Built in 1959, that Modernist icon looks out over the Los Angeles hills.

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