Place Saint-Martin
We were approached to develop a scheme, until planning approval, involving the conversion of an existing solicitor’s office into two separate residential dwellings, in the central Belgian town of Sambreville.
Split across three storeys, an existing flat on the upper floors of the building received light refurbishment. At ground floor a more extensive series of alterations was proposed, making use of the former waiting rooms, external courtyard and garage.
These three volumes, themselves additions to the original building, were grouped together and enclosed under a newly introduced pitched roof, proposed as a means of clearly identifying new from original building elements, whilst helping to rectify structural and visual inconsistencies.
Together they provided a sequence of spaces that offer differing forms of enclosure, from a covered workshop space, to an external courtyard and an adjoining bedroom that has access to both.
Externally, the appearance of the building was maintained, with elements such as the openings of redundant garage doors retained so as not to disturb the pattern of the street.
The project received planning permission, with the client overseeing construction that was completed in November 2018.