Mr. Hoppenbrouwers was a Latin teacher, and his wife was expecting their second child when they acquired a plot of land in one of the first subdivisions in the wooded area between Turnhout and Vosselaar. The plot would later be surrounded by subdivisions with luxurious villas. When choosing an architect, they first considered Jan Bols, who designed solid, traditionalist houses equipped with the necessary French stone and ironwork. However, they discovered one of Vanhout’s terraced houses and were drawn to this more modern architecture. Many preliminary designs were made. Since these were in an innovative style of which Vanhout could not yet show his own examples, he took the Hoppenbrouwers family to Bruges, to the home of sculptor Roger Bonduel, which was designed by Paul Felix.
The final residence is functionally designed with the garage and utility rooms in the north, the living room in the east, and the bedrooms in the west. The plan can be described as a rectangle with two semi-open patios carved out. The first lies westerly, at the façade. A long wall protruding from the façade guides the path to the front door. The extended concrete beam and the low wall enclose this courtyard with its water feature. In a preparatory perspective drawing, we can see that the dividing wall in the façade was planned to be higher, making it impossible to see inside, especially towards the office window. The other, larger patio lies in the southeast corner. The pine trees that stood there were preserved, causing passersby to say: ‘What kind of house is this, with trees growing inside?’ In the patio wall facing the neighbors, the building application still shows an elongated opening, but it was bricked up during construction. The maximum privacy was allowed for large windows in the sitting area and hall, facing south. The sitting room window has a concrete canopy to shield from the hot summer sun. This canopy isn’t supported by columns but hangs from two beams, one at the level of the rear façade and one perpendicular to it. These slender horizontal elements and the two open rectangles in the roof plate of the describing rectangle form a beautiful composition, together with the accents of the vertical pine trees. This patio also features a water feature. Both ponds receive rainwater via a spout and chain. In the summers of those first years, the back pond was the haunt of a wild duck with her ducklings. The garden remained undeveloped, due to the sandy soil and the trees. The few developed plots had no fences anyway. From their table, the residents could see deer running in the forest. The hall receives light through a large window that runs from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling. The Höganästiles and the planter, which continue in the floor from outside to inside, create a connection between the patio and the hall. The windows of the dining area and bedrooms were originally planned in two separate parts, separated by a concrete beam: a normal part, up to the ceiling, and a low section, just above the floor. The latter provided a beautiful extra accent of light through its reflection on the floor. Because the glass was often soiled by mud from rain splashing on the sandy ground, the lower part was soon bricked up. All façades are painted white and have a distinct texture due to the brick bond and the wooden formwork of the concrete. To achieve unity, almost all interior walls are built in the same machined brick and also painted white. The entire bedroom section was planned with wooden partition walls and cabinets. The parents’ bedroom has a window to the east, facing the back patio. Next to it, Vanhout had drawn a large window from the patio to the hallway. At the request of the clients, this was not implemented. In total, eleven skylights with cylindrical tubes provide natural lighting for the vestibule, corridors, toilets and bathroom. The cylindrical door handles were from sculptor Bonduel. Mrs. Hoppenbrouwers needed both hands to open the doors and after a while had them replaced with regular handles.
