On a large plot behind the Turnhout-Merksplas road stood a tower, an aviary, and a square building with a dome, all in neo-Moorish style. The dilapidated buildings were demolished, while the tower was restored. The design process for a villa for his brother Mil gave Lou Jansen quite some trouble. An early sketch shows four equally sized units placed in perfect rotational symmetry: garages and storage in the east, living spaces in the south, bedrooms for parents and guests in the west, and children’s rooms in the north. Another preliminary design with a block on columns didn’t appeal to Mil. Finally, the concept came together in an aha moment, where Lou placed four separate units and connected them with three glass walkways: the garage with storage areas, the living spaces, the playroom, and the sleeping quarters with a spacious patio.
Upon arrival at the site, we only see the blind brick walls of the three building blocks. The massive chimney is placed separately from the service block, like a new tower. For the choice of bricks, Mil and Lou could turn to their father, who had taken over their father-in-law’s brick factory. Lou placed great importance on the right color and rich nuancing of the fired bricks. As visitors approach the front door, they can see straight through the building on both sides. This is the zone of the three glass walkways. With its cobblestones, it resembles a riverbed. This impression is enhanced during rain by water from the spouts of the four units’ roofs. Before entering, you still have the impression that the units are exclusively defined by those endless brick walls, except for two recesses, one for a window in the laundry room and one in the office. From the outside, nothing of the patio is visible, as the patio walls are as high as the walls of the sleeping quarters. Inside, however, one wall of the sleeping area, one of the playroom, and even three of the living area turn out to be entirely made of glass. These last two units are only connected via a walkway with two passages and the corridor in the bedroom block. Yet they form a single spatial whole through the large glass walls and the intermediate terrace. As in the Helsen residence, this creates a secluded terrace, an ‘outdoor room’, dominated by a multi-stemmed tree that provides shade on the southern wall of the playroom.
With Mies van der Rohe’s motto Less is more in mind, Lou Jansen separated the functions in the living area block with just a few elements. The center of the front door serves as the symmetry axis for the long beam of double cabinet walls, for the sandblasted glass doors to the kitchen and vestibule, and for the three glass walls of the indoor garden. The functions (hall, vestibule, fireplace corner, library, dining area, and kitchen) are not separate from each other; the impression of an immense continuous space is dominant. The sitting area is located furthest north, spanning the entire width of this block. The sunken seating solution, which gave architects of that period the opportunity to conceal the volume of the armchairs, later proved to be a passing fashion trend. In the roof of the living area, openings for light were made in three places. Through a square skylight around the fireplace chimney, it appears to float. By the indoor garden, all walls, including the roof, are glass. A dome of the same length provides natural light in the hall.
Although this villa has a different, more open, character than that of Van Roy, which we discussed in the introduction, they both show a similar radicality and rationality as found in the works of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Craig Ellwood.
‘Architecture in the Golden Sixties – The Turnhout School, Lannoo Campus, 2012’.
