A Unique Villa With A Glass Bottom And A Cottage-Style Top

This is Rag Doll, a private residence situated in Knokke-Heist, Belgium. The fact that in has a name is actually very common for this region which is filled with various detached villas, most of them two-stories high and all with a special name. However, there’s more to it than that. This name is an expression of the fact that this house has a very unusual design which is a blend of old and new and two very different styles and palettes of materials.

There's a very big contrast between the ground floor and the rest of the house which can be seen from all angles — There’s a very big contrast between the ground floor and the rest of the house which can be seen from all angles

The fully transparent ground floor allows the house to enjoy a very strong connection to the its surroundings and the outdoors — The fully transparent ground floor allows the house to enjoy a very strong connection to its surroundings and the outdoors

The owners were unsure what style they preferred for their new home and didn’t really have a clear idea of what they wanted it to look like, They did however know that they wanted it to have a large basement. They settled on a site that had an old cottage-style house on it. However, the original house was protected and couldn’t be taken down so they had to work around this limitation. They collaborated with Delmulle Delmulle Architecten to come up with a really cool and audacious plan.

The interior design of the ground floor is modern and minimalistic

Everything on top of the ground floor retains the original design and style of the house

The contrast between the top and bottom sections materialized into a unique mix between the old and the new

The ground floor has a square-shaped floor plan and is entirely encased in transparent glass

All around the square base of the house there's a circular terrace made out of natural stone — All around the square base of the house there’s a circular terrace made out of natural stone

The plan was to divide the house in half horizontally. The top part would retain the original cottage design but the bottom part would be completely redesigned and transformed into a fully transparent glass box. It’s this unusual combination of styles, parts and materials that ultimately inspired the owners to call their new home Rag Doll, a name which also captures their indecisiveness and appreciation for multiple different styles.