Charming house in a forest in Belgium, fully renovated with the Well-being process from habitarmonia, with the purpose of making the owners reconnect with nature.
We were tasked with transforming this passive house into a modern, open-plan living space that would not only soften the boundaries between indoors and outdoors but also help our clients reconnect with their natural surroundings.
The design of this home is clearly curated, but it never becomes intimidating or overly made-up.
Cross-border/international
Belgium
Belgium
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{Empty}
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2019-09-01
As an individual
First name: Nuria Last name: Muñoz Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Calle Cueva Santa 8, Town: L'Eliana Postal code: 46183 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 664 19 29 80 E-mail:info@habitarmonia.com Website:https://www.habitarmonia.com/
In the middle of a small forest in the village of Grasheide, Antwerp, Belgium, the family bought this passive house with a wooden structure manufactured by the company Debacker.
Although technically the house met all the requirements for sustainability and insulation, it lacked charm and space for this family with 3 children. The previous owners had not paid attention to its decoration and flow, and the new owners love well-decorated houses that make them feel at home, so it was then that Habitarmonia was approached to create a home where this couple with stressful jobs could find peace and quiet, where the children would feel safe and where the family could reconnect with the beauty of the forest outside.
At Habitarmonia we work with a Holistic approach by implementing Biophilic and Wellbeing Design; and the first main step when starting a project is to analyse the future inhabitants, not only their tastes, hobbies and habits but also their personality types, the types of emotions and feelings they want to get from the spaces and indirectly we analyse if any of the inhabitants suffer from any kind of health or cognitive problems.
Once we defined the key points for the decoration of the house, we co-created a colour palette, created a moodboard and held some sessions in which we advised our clients on different aspects related to health and wellbeing in their home. This was their A-HA moment; once they began to understand the impact their space could have on them and their family, the collaboration was much more effective in terms of choice of materials and furniture.
The couple's biggest challenges were high levels of stress due to their work situation, and through our various discussions, our clients shared with us that one of the children suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and dyslexia.
Biophilic Design
Regenerative Design
Sustainable products
Natural materials
reconnection nature
- Reconnection with Nature
- Biophilic principles
-Reduce the stress of occupants
- Help with ADHD issues of occupant
- Reconnect occupants to nature
In the middle of a small forest in the village of Grasheide, Antwerp, Belgium, the family bought this passive house with a wooden structure manufactured by the company Debacker.
Although technically the house met all the requirements for sustainability and insulation, it lacked charm and space for this family with 3 children. The previous owners had not paid attention to its decoration and flow, and the new owners love well decorated houses that make them feel at home, so it was then that Habitarmonia was approached to create a home where this couple with stressful jobs could find peace and quiet, where the children would feel safe and where the family could reconnect with the beauty of the forest outside.
At Habitarmonia we work with a Holistic approach by implementing Biophilic and Wellbeing Design; and the first main step when starting a project is to analyse the future inhabitants, not only their tastes, hobbies and habits but also their personality types, the types of emotions and feelings they want to get from the spaces and indirectly we analyse if any of the inhabitants suffer from any kind of health or cognitive problems.
Once we defined the key points for the decoration of the house, we co-created a colour palette, created a moodboard and held some sessions in which we advised our clients on different aspects related to health and wellbeing in their home. This was their A-HA moment; once they began to understand the impact their space could have on them and their family, the collaboration was much more effective in terms of choice of materials and furniture.
The couple's biggest challenges were high levels of stress due to their work situation, and through our various discussions, our clients shared with us that one of the children suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and dyslexia.
In the middle of a small forest in the village of Grasheide, Antwerp, Belgium, the family bought this passive house with a wooden structure manufactured by the company Debacker.
Although technically the house met all the requirements for sustainability and insulation, it lacked charm and space for this family with 3 children. The previous owners had not paid attention to its decoration and flow, and the new owners love well decorated houses that make them feel at home, so it was then that Habitarmonia was approached to create a home where this couple with stressful jobs could find peace and quiet, where the children would feel safe and where the family could reconnect with the beauty of the forest outside.
At Habitarmonia we work with a Holistic approach by implementing Biophilic and Wellbeing Design; and the first main step when starting a project is to analyse the future inhabitants, not only their tastes, hobbies and habits but also their personality types, the types of emotions and feelings they want to get from the spaces and indirectly we analyse if any of the inhabitants suffer from any kind of health or cognitive problems.
Once we defined the key points for the decoration of the house, we co-created a colour palette, created a moodboard and held some sessions in which we advised our clients on different aspects related to health and wellbeing in their home. This was their A-HA moment; once they began to understand the impact their space could have on them and their family, the collaboration was much more effective in terms of choice of materials and furniture.
The couple's biggest challenges were high levels of stress due to their work situation, and through our various discussions, our clients shared with us that one of the children suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and dyslexia.
In the middle of a small forest in the village of Grasheide, Antwerp, Belgium, the family bought this passive house with a wooden structure manufactured by the company Debacker.
Although technically the house met all the requirements for sustainability and insulation, it lacked charm and space for this family with 3 children. The previous owners had not paid attention to its decoration and flow, and the new owners love well decorated houses that make them feel at home, so it was then that Habitarmonia was approached to create a home where this couple with stressful jobs could find peace and quiet, where the children would feel safe and where the family could reconnect with the beauty of the forest outside.
At Habitarmonia we work with a Holistic approach by implementing Biophilic and Wellbeing Design; and the first main step when starting a project is to analyse the future inhabitants, not only their tastes, hobbies and habits but also their personality types, the types of emotions and feelings they want to get from the spaces and indirectly we analyse if any of the inhabitants suffer from any kind of health or cognitive problems.
Once we defined the key points for the decoration of the house, we co-created a colour palette, created a moodboard and held some sessions in which we advised our clients on different aspects related to health and wellbeing in their home. This was their A-HA moment; once they began to understand the impact their space could have on them and their family, the collaboration was much more effective in terms of choice of materials and furniture.
The couple's biggest challenges were high levels of stress due to their work situation, and through our various discussions, our clients shared with us that one of the children suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and dyslexia.
Regenerative and Biophilic Design were the key disciplines to implement this project.
In the middle of a small forest in the village of Grasheide, Antwerp, Belgium, the family bought this passive house with a wooden structure manufactured by the company Debacker.
Although technically the house met all the requirements for sustainability and insulation, it lacked charm and space for this family with 3 children. The previous owners had not paid attention to its decoration and flow, and the new owners love well decorated houses that make them feel at home, so it was then that Habitarmonia was approached to create a home where this couple with stressful jobs could find peace and quiet, where the children would feel safe and where the family could reconnect with the beauty of the forest outside.
At Habitarmonia we work with a Holistic approach by implementing Biophilic and Wellbeing Design; and the first main step when starting a project is to analyse the future inhabitants, not only their tastes, hobbies and habits but also their personality types, the types of emotions and feelings they want to get from the spaces and indirectly we analyse if any of the inhabitants suffer from any kind of health or cognitive problems.
Once we defined the key points for the decoration of the house, we co-created a colour palette, created a moodboard and held some sessions in which we advised our clients on different aspects related to health and wellbeing in their home. This was their A-HA moment; once they began to understand the impact their space could have on them and their family, the collaboration was much more effective in terms of choice of materials and furniture.
The couple's biggest challenges were high levels of stress due to their work situation, and through our various discussions, our clients shared with us that one of the children suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and dyslexia.
We work with a Holistic approach by implementing Biophilic and Wellbeing Design; aSO, the first main step when starting a project is to analyse the future inhabitants, not only their tastes, hobbies, and habits but also their personality types, the knowledge about nature connectiveness, the types of emotions and feelings they want to get from the spaces and indirectly we analyse if any of the inhabitants suffer from any kind of health or cognitive problems.
So, once we defined the key points for the decoration of the house, we co-created a colour palette, created a moodboard and held some sessions in which we advised our clients on different aspects related to health and wellbeing in their home. This was their A-HA moment; once they began to understand the impact their space could have on them and their family, the collaboration was much more effective in terms of choice of materials and furniture.
The couple's biggest challenges were high levels of stress due to their work situation, and through our various discussions, our clients shared with us that one of the children suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and dyslexia.
At habitarmonia we place great importance on educating our clients in the co-creation process; by involving them in it, we make them feel more responsible for the choices they make, and we also create an awareness of the importance that nature has on our wellbeing.
We also place great emphasis on educating the biophilic design framework to them: since is applicable worldwide, going beyond aesthetics and rethinking the approach to creating domestic environments, we aim to design spaces that are both visually stunning and support the individual and collective needs of our clients. And while plants play a role in the design process, it is much more than that: it employs numerous easy-to-adopt theories, drawn from our innate attraction to natural environments and processes, thus this early stages of the project are crucial
So, to begin with, we started looking at how we could work with natural materials (under pattern “non-visual connection with nature” from Biophilic Design Theory of 15 patterns of Terrapin Bright Green), which have direct impact on reducing stress hormones, have a positive impact on cognitive performance and, transmit tranquility.
One of the first things that was done was to place oak flooring on both floors on top of the existing tiled floor, together with a layer of insulation for a better acoustic and temperature isolation.
The wood was treated with natural resins, so it was also possible to use it in the bathrooms and kitchen; an eye-catching element that created visual peace. Not least, the smell of the wood as well as the feel of the wood enhanced the sense of calm in all rooms.
The next step was to choose a colour palette that would unify the spaces (and would be aligned to the people living in the spaces), and paint them with ecological paint.
One of the general recommendations for our clients was to remind them of the importance of being able to operate the windows, as it is a passive house, the builder's recommendation was to have the windows permanently closed, for the best functioning of this system, but, speaking of well-being and health, it was our duty to guide and advise them towards a better use of them. We raised their awareness of the benefits of ventilating the rooms and getting fresh air from the outside (which in this case was a small pine forest).
The Biophilic Design methodology can be applied to other projects. Even the own established process at Habitarmonia is being documented in an ebook where individuals could apply this by themselves. You can take a look at https://www.habitarmonia-academy.com/
A major global challenge is climate change: reconnecting people to nature through Biophilic Design we create awareness and respect for ourselves and for our planet
