Architects: Lensass Architects Photography: Philippe van Gelooven and Andri Haflidason Construction Period: 2012 Location: Moerdijk, The Netherlands
A farm in the sloping Pajottenland landscape becomes a private family home and veterinary practise. A masoned brick shaft that connects the practise, the private home and the garden brings order to a cluster of existing buildings. The shaft was nicknamed ‘the rabbit hole’. It leads to an inside yard, which is also finished in brickwork. From the higher location of the castle of Gaasbeek, the brick roofing of the rabbit hole can easily be spotted. Just like the castle, it has become a visually strong and culturally defining element in the landscape.
Once inside the house, other unexpected surprises await the visitor’s eye. Even the smallest of windows frames the age-old landscape with its seventeenth-century castle. Architecture and surroundings are splendidly interlaced. The effect is so natural that it seems to have been shaped by nature and history alone.
Text provided by the architect.
