Built-in wooden units and sheer, full-height curtains soften the otherwise stark interior of this apartment located within a canalside regeneration project near Antwerp.The apartment designed by interior architect Arjaan De Feyter is located within one of four new-build blocks called The Cubes, which were developed by Brussels-based architecture firm Bogdan & Van Broeck.
The Cubes form part of a conversion of a former brewery and malt house site beside the Albert Canal outside Antwerp, which has been transformed into a mixed-use development containing apartments, offices, artists studios, a museum and public squares. De Feyter has his office in the Kanaal development, and it was following a visit to the office that his client, a local builder and blacksmith, discovered the project and decided to purchase one of the residential units.
The apartment was an empty shell when it was bought, so the designer's task was to adapt the existing spaces to create a comfortable and cohesive interior environment that fulfils the owner's practical and aesthetic needs.Each of the apartments in The Cubes is a duplex stacked in different orientations to provide varying views from large windows incorporated into the facades. The main living space comprises a double-height room overlooked by a mezzanine, within which the designer installed a kitchen featuring a tall central island.
The kitchen cabinetry is constructed from distinctively grained solid wood, which introduces natural warmth and texture to the otherwise minimal and austere space. A tall window set into the main exterior wall of this room can be folded to one side to allow air to flow in past gauzy curtains that hang all the way down from ceiling to floor. The rest of the open-plan space at this level accommodates a dining area and lounge lined with more built-in wooden cabinets.
