Décollage IV

The pressure needs to be eased. Over time, the house has compressed itself. The rear façade is sliced through by a towering stairwell. The basement is low, and room after room has been added. Some things can be demolished, but other elements have been there from the start.

But the lid doesn’t need to come off entirely. With a few precise moves, we release the pressure without losing the building’s character. In the central room, we swap floor heights: the basement becomes higher, the bel étage cosier and lower. Not only does this create more space, it also opens up a view through the house. Light enters where it never reached before. Circulation is shifted. A stair in a void, and before you get there, there’s space and time for your bike, your groceries, your scarf. We shorten the train of rooms. Fewer square metres, but better ones. We go no further than the historic house allows. We align with the stairwell. Outside, we pretend to still be inside: terraces on two levels connect with two levels of the home. You can step outside at every turn. The valve is open. The steam whistles.