Master Final-Research
My Master proof finals subject, was about the protected houses throughout Belgium and its three provinces. I researched three cases and analyzed the facts, the positive and negative points of living in a protected house. I wanted to go deeper and find influence of the law on the emotional and functional aspects of the user.
In this part of the website, you can read about my finding about each case that I studied.
Maison Charlier
Spa
Gustav Charlier 1900
Our search started in Spa. There I bumped in to this house which immediately drew my attention.
I tried to reach the owner several times but he wouldn't cooperate. After many attempts , i succeeded. He let me in his house. It is an Art-Nouveau house built in 1900 by Gustav Charlier. I had no permission to take any pictures from the interior but it was very floral and full of colors.
When I entered the owner directly started to talk about the reason why he wouldn't let me in, and that was because he wasn't happy with the way how the city of Liege was treating him after protecting his house.
He was a very angry man who couldn't see the beauty of his house (once his home) through all the boundaries and rules that a protection carries within.
The biggest issue were the wooden single glassed windows. "I have a big house, and I am eighty years old, how do you think that I have to pay the bills for the heating?" His wish is to change the windows and replace them by PVC frames which is definitely not allowed by the law of protection because of the fact that the house will loose a big architectural value.
Because of those frustrations, this beautiful peace of architecture lost its meaning of being a home to the owner. This family owns this house for three generations.
Spa
Gustav Charlier 1900
Our search started in Spa. There I bumped in to this house which immediately drew my attention.
I tried to reach the owner several times but he wouldn't cooperate. After many attempts , i succeeded. He let me in his house. It is an Art-Nouveau house built in 1900 by Gustav Charlier. I had no permission to take any pictures from the interior but it was very floral and full of colors.
When I entered the owner directly started to talk about the reason why he wouldn't let me in, and that was because he wasn't happy with the way how the city of Liege was treating him after protecting his house.
He was a very angry man who couldn't see the beauty of his house (once his home) through all the boundaries and rules that a protection carries within.
The biggest issue were the wooden single glassed windows. "I have a big house, and I am eighty years old, how do you think that I have to pay the bills for the heating?" His wish is to change the windows and replace them by PVC frames which is definitely not allowed by the law of protection because of the fact that the house will loose a big architectural value.
Because of those frustrations, this beautiful peace of architecture lost its meaning of being a home to the owner. This family owns this house for three generations.
Maison Cauchie - Art Nouveau
Brussels
Paul Cauchie 1900
This building is a work of Cauchie in which he wanted to promote his work as a painter and interior architect. This house used to be a facia to present his skills. The building is decorated by Sgraffito art inside and out. After the dead of Cauchie, the house was abandoned and left to its own. In 1980 the new owners bought the house and saved it from demolition. They spend 10 years and a lot amount of money to restore the ruined sgraffito's and interior.
Each province has a budget for the renovation of the protected houses. It is been determined by the degree of the protection and the all around value of the property. In this case, the restoration costs were way above the budget of the province of Brussels. The costs of the facade were covered by Brussels but the interior was payed by the new owners.
The renovation work were done mostly on the sgraffito's. The windows and other technical aspects stayed untouched as they were in a good condition. But of course they don't respond to the todays ecological norms.
Brussels
Paul Cauchie 1900
This building is a work of Cauchie in which he wanted to promote his work as a painter and interior architect. This house used to be a facia to present his skills. The building is decorated by Sgraffito art inside and out. After the dead of Cauchie, the house was abandoned and left to its own. In 1980 the new owners bought the house and saved it from demolition. They spend 10 years and a lot amount of money to restore the ruined sgraffito's and interior.
Each province has a budget for the renovation of the protected houses. It is been determined by the degree of the protection and the all around value of the property. In this case, the restoration costs were way above the budget of the province of Brussels. The costs of the facade were covered by Brussels but the interior was payed by the new owners.
The renovation work were done mostly on the sgraffito's. The windows and other technical aspects stayed untouched as they were in a good condition. But of course they don't respond to the todays ecological norms.
Huis roels - Modern
Kapellen
1970 Jo Crepain
This modern building was the first work of Jo Crepain and is protected in its entirety . The building is 3 meters wide and near 17 meters long. He created open spaces with a central vide to introduce a maximum of natural light. This house is a total concept. Crepain designed everything from the building and the spaces till the doorknobs. One of the main issues of this house are the large fixed furniture. The original owners agreed to this fact and they like the interior but they also want to sell the house. The new generation wants to change their interior frequently to respond to the contemporary ideas of living which is almost impossible because of those fixed furnitures.
Kapellen
1970 Jo Crepain
This modern building was the first work of Jo Crepain and is protected in its entirety . The building is 3 meters wide and near 17 meters long. He created open spaces with a central vide to introduce a maximum of natural light. This house is a total concept. Crepain designed everything from the building and the spaces till the doorknobs. One of the main issues of this house are the large fixed furniture. The original owners agreed to this fact and they like the interior but they also want to sell the house. The new generation wants to change their interior frequently to respond to the contemporary ideas of living which is almost impossible because of those fixed furnitures.