Heifort: A Single-Story Home Designed for Graceful Ageing in Ghent, Belgium

Heifort, a thoughtfully crafted single-story residence by FELT architecture & design, is located in Ghent, Belgium, and was completed in 2024. Designed for a retired couple, the project embodies a sensitive approach to ageing in place, prioritizing accessibility, dignity, and long-term adaptability while maintaining architectural clarity and warmth.

Architecture Rooted in Accessibility and Autonomy

With a total area of 170 square meters, the house is fully barrier-free and organized around a clear spatial logic of served and servant spaces. This alternating sequence supports everyday living while discreetly accommodating potential future care needs. Circulation is intuitive and efficient, ensuring ease of movement without sacrificing spatial quality.

Modest Exterior, Rich Interior

From the street, Heifort presents a restrained, almost barn-like appearance: quiet, compact, and unassuming. However, this simplicity conceals a nuanced interior architecture defined by a rhythmic structure of exposed CLT (cross-laminated timber) frames. These timber elements establish a strong visual cadence throughout the house, bringing warmth, tactile richness, and a sense of order to daily life.

Sculptural Roof and Light Strategy

One of the home’s most distinctive features is its sculptural roofline, punctuated by three chimney-like vertical volumes. These elements mark the servant spaces: such as storage, bathrooms, and technical areas, while performing an essential environmental role. They act as light wells, drawing daylight deep into the plan from multiple orientations and ensuring that even the central areas of the house remain naturally illuminated.

Intergenerational Living

Beyond its role as a retirement home, Heifort also embraces intergenerational living. A compact sleeping loft is integrated into the volume to accommodate visiting grandchildren, reinforcing emotional continuity and making the house a place of gathering, not retreat. This gesture transforms the project into a living framework that evolves with its occupants.

A Future-Proof Timber Home

Materially, the use of wood architecture plays both a structural and atmospheric role, aligning with contemporary sustainable housing practices while fostering comfort and familiarity. The result is a future-proof single-story home that balances pragmatism with generosity, designed not only to support ageing, but to celebrate everyday life with grace and intention.

All the photographs are works of Stijn Bollaert