This building is particularly significant for its façade, which is entirely made up of concrete and steel windows. In the centre, the heavy concrete balustrades of the small terraces by the kitchens are prominent, extending into planting boxes that stand in front of part of the living rooms. The balustrades protrude approximately 30 cm from the façades and are supported by two consoles. The edge of the roof protrudes equally far from the façade. Where we might expect similar supports here, we in fact find the opposite: two block-shaped recesses. We can find a similar treatment in the walls of the entrance hall of the Biblioteca Laurenziana by Michelangelo (1534). Where pedestals and half columns normally emerge from the wall, they recede into it here. For Vanhout and Schellekens concrete is more than just a means of construction. It is a plastic medium used to articulate the façade, in the same way that pedestals, pilasters and cornices were in the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
