In the midst of the majestic beauty of a green avenue in Schilde, Antwerp lies a stately residential villa--VB Residence. Once untouched, it was entrusted to Grain Design as an empty canvas. The goal was to create a thoughtful, cozy dream home for a young family, where both the exterior and interior underwent a contemporary transformation.

The facade still carries the characteristics of classical grandeur, but once you cross the threshold, the space embraces a lightness and spaciousness that evoke a serene atmosphere. Although no walls were demolished, each function found a new position within the existing layout. In short, the architectural structures remained intact, but the soul of the space was recreated. 

If there’s one thing that defines—and unites—spaces by Grain Designoffice, it’s an enduring sense of weightlessness. Walls the colour of sunlight. Furniture in amorphous shapes. Rooms that flow into each other like slow, meandering rivers. They dared to go big with contrasts, offsetting the existing architecture with a quirky and sophisticated mix of colours, textures, furnishings and materials, until, as the architects put it, “it revealed itself as a sexy kernel in a classic husk.”