minimal windows® highline for a Brussels townhouse renovation

Architecture: K2A

Landscape design: Denis Dujardin

Photography: Nicolas Schimp

Before their transformation, the two adjoining houses contained small, subdivided rooms and offered limited opportunities for spacious living. K2A united the properties, using their combined width to create larger rooms and a more generous internal layout.

The renovation retained the underlying organisation of the original houses while improving their relationship with the garden. Opening the rear elevation introduced daylight and garden views into the redesigned living spaces, making the outdoor setting a central part of the home.

The design balances the character of the nineteenth-century street with the possibilities of a contemporary interior. At the front, the restored brick façade maintains the house’s place within a row of similar buildings. At the rear, larger glazed openings establish a more open relationship with the south-facing garden.

Inside, exposed concrete and glass create a restrained material palette. Minimal framing complements this approach, keeping the garden visible alongside the interior’s architectural surfaces and furnishings.

The increased width of the combined properties supports the architect’s aim of creating generous, naturally lit spaces while respecting the arrangement of the original houses.

The minimal windows® highline system forms part of this example of slim framed glazing in Brussels, complementing the project’s use of exposed concrete and glass.

Highline is a façade system developed around large fixed glazed elements and slim aluminium profiles. Its reduced visible framing allows extensive areas of glass to become part of an elevation while maintaining a restrained architectural appearance.

As a system, Highline can also be combined with compatible minimal windows® sliding elements where a design requires opening sections alongside fixed glazing.

Daylight and garden views are central to this application of slim framed glazing in Brussels, with generous rear openings bringing light into the enlarged living spaces.

Slim framing reduces visual interruption across the glazed areas. This supports the open character of the redesigned interior and allows the garden to remain part of the experience of the home throughout the day.

The Highline system’s thermally broken aluminium framing is designed to reduce conductive heat transfer through the profiles, alongside the thermal performance provided by the glazing specification.

The rear glazing forms part of a broader refurbishment that combines the two existing properties while respecting their original arrangement.

K2A concentrated the more open architectural treatment towards the garden. This allowed the restored street frontage to retain its established appearance, with contemporary glazing contributing to the transformation of the spaces behind it.

House WW demonstrates how slim framed glazing in Brussels can strengthen the relationship between a contemporary interior and its garden while retaining the character of the original street frontage.

Combining the two properties created opportunities for wider rooms, while the redesigned rear elevation brought daylight and garden views into the home. Restored brick architecture, exposed concrete and minimal windows® highline contribute to a residential renovation shaped around space, light and its outdoor setting.

For advice on incorporating façade glazing into a renovation or extension, contact the minimal windows® team.

Glazing system: KELLER minimal windows® highline

System type: Façade glazing with large fixed elements and slim profiles

Frame construction: Thermally broken aluminium

Location: Brussels, Belgium

Architect: K2A

Landscape architect: Denis Dujardin

Photography: Nicolas Schimp

Project year: 2016

Project type: Residential renovation and extension