REFLECTING ARCHITECTURE

MIA architecture designed its office as an extension to a 1970s house. The building’s reflective skin immerses in the wooded surroundings.

The project consists of the construction of a volume that houses an architect's office, a meeting room, and technical areas. As the extension of an existing house built in the 1970s, the new volume is located in a heavily wooded environment in Beaufays in Belgium. In order to connect to the existing architectural language, the new volume’s base is composed of painted bricks and masonry heads. Placed on this base, we find the mirror box that aims to disappear in its environment.

Thanks to the high reflection capacity of this glass cladding, the new building literally blends into the site. In an almost surreal way, the large square office bay gives the impression, from the garden, of immersion in the interior space, through a notch in the vegetation laid on a brick base. The other windows are hidden behind the translucent skin and are only visible after dark.

Photography: © Courtesy of MIA architecture