Product Review

Reasons for Walling a House is a book about the unusual transformation of a small single family house by the Belgian architecture firm 51N4E. A couple living in a single family house on the Belgian countryside wanted to have "more space." But, instead, the architects that they hired enclosed their small house with a three-meter-tall steel wall. This paradoxical transformation challenged the owners to rethink their ideas of a home. Upon the project's completion they decided to open up their residence as a guest house for artists, designers, writers, and thinkers. Each person invited would receive a carte blanche, a fridge full of food, and the opportunity to have the run of the house without its inhabitants. Reasons for Walling a House unravels the secrets of an unlikely transformation, seen through the eyes of the first seven guests-the artists Enrique Marty (Spain) and Dirk Braeckman (Belgium), theater director and actor Josse de Pauw (Belgium), graphic designers Something Fantastic (Germany), as well as the architects Andrea Branzi (Italy), BeL (Germany) and 51N4E (Belgium).