MK house is a recently renovated heritage-listed townhouse from the early 1800’s located in the historic centre of Antwerp.
Brussels-based Nicolas Schuybroek was presented with the delicious task of re-imagining the house for a top fashion creative who works in Paris but returns to his native Antwerp for weekends.
The house had an exceptionally impressive black-and-white façade but Schuybroek says that inside, it was dark and the interiors seemed confined.
Being an architect first and foremost, Schuybroek wanted to resolve first the relationships and connections between spaces, the flow of movement, and the quality and direction of natural light. Only then did he move on to the interior treatments and materials, furnishings, lighting fixtures and accessories.
The formerly dark and incoherent space is now a light-filled, minimalist, 12-room residence. The most distinctive feat of the 400 square metre (4300 sq. ft) house’s reconfiguration, however, is the beautiful balance between the white and marble and the dark wood that appears subtly yet strongly throughout the residence.
Its defining features are the impressive wood-beam ceilings and chevroned wooden floors, monastic white marble kitchen and bathrooms, and a remarkable collection of mid-century modernist furniture.
The curving sofa is from American furniture designer Vladimir Kagan (1927-2016), re-upholstered with a Kvadrat fabric by Belgian fashion designer (currently Chief Creative Officer at Calvin Klein) Raf Simons.
The lounge chair with the dark webbing is by American woodworker, architect, and furniture maker George Katsutoshi Nakashima (1905-1990).
The armchair with the mustard fabric is by American furniture designer, Nakashima’s contemporary and friend, Phillip Lloyd Powell (1920-2008).
The tree trunk table is by Swiss architect and designer Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967) and the spindly black floor lamp (Lampadaire Droit) is by French silversmith and lighting designer Serge Mouille (1922-1988). Tuija Seipell.
