Designed by Atelier Vens Vanbelle,
this unique house in Ghent, Belgium, uses a 12 meter high oak tree
trunk as a central structural column for its pentagonal plan. The
owners, a musician and a painter, acquired this old building consisting
of two floors and an attic, plus a courtyard separated from the street
by a wall. The inner structure of the house was in a poor condition and
the rooms were too small, so it was decided to keep only the facade and
build a complete new structure in the house. Using a oak tree trunk as
the backbone of the home, the architects built a series of mezzanine
floors that revolve around the trunk to form a pentagonal plane. The
open rooms connect to form a spiral staircase that rises through the
house, room by room. The architects designed the layout so that the
higher the room, the more intimate the function. The ground floor is
used as a studio for art and music, the living areas are tucked into the
upper levels, and the bedroom and bathroom are located at the top in
the attic.
