As were dreaming of an ideal location to self-isolate, we discovered the VD House, situated on a golf course in Kapellen, a municipality in the Belgian province of Antwerp. This house would be perfect.

It was designed by the Antwerp, Belgium-based architect Dieter Vander Velpen who founded his practice in 2013.

The 1.5-hectare property was defined by the surrounding nature ? a golf course and a government-protected mature oak tree. The house had to accommodate a family with one young daughter and they wanted a sense of openness and lightness, and a constant, direct link with the nature around them.

Luckily, the client is a developer with an appreciation for architecture. ?There weren?t so many challenges in this project as we had an amazing plot with a beautiful garden,? Vander Velpen tells The Cool Hunter. ?From the beginning we were on the same wavelength with the client, who wanted to build a contemporary house which opens up completely to the garden.?
The oak tree became the most important piece of the project. ?An unusual part of the project was the three-legged oak that was on the plot,? Vander Velpen says. ?This is very unique in Europe and it is one of the biggest of its kind here. We wanted to integrate this in the design of the house so we organized the house and different volumes like the pool house and swimming pool around this tree creating a contemporary version of the typical enclosed Belgian farmhouse.?
The house itself is L-shaped, but the fo...