In The Raw

Killer curves from JDSA’s green-roofed, béton brut Brussels retreat.

- Shumi Bose

The story of the S House begins a bit like a fairytale: ‘The client came to us with a funny sheet of A4,’ says Julien de Smedt, founder of the award-winning architecture and design studio JDSA. Their singular brief? ‘Build me a house with no straight lines.’

And that is exactly what the practice has done, on an unpromising site in a Brussels suburb. It’s not so easy to tell where the S House begins, surrounded as it is by lush landscaping, its sinuous form tucked into the side of a hill. Following the lines of ancient trees and newer native planting, the approach to the property belies its presence, but the driveway soon swings out to reveal the scope of the house, natural pool, and garden. An entranceway opens onto a planted sedum roof, looking towards the same rolling verdure that inspired the first landscape painters of the Low Countries.

The visceral contrast between the copious planting and stark, raw concrete of the building is the main material dialogue set up by the design. Entering a cool, subdued corridor with its monotone grey palette, the senses are calmed and retuned to appreciate the subtle textures in the shuttered concrete surface and oozy, exposed mortar: its cool, mineral scent; the slight and beautiful variations in tone. Thus calmed, the floor plan swings out again, revealing the first of the convivial open spaces within what is ultimately a family home.