Permanent home to 30 people, De Lork is organized in small communities. Between the privacy of one’s own room and the communal living& dining, inhabitants are provided with additional spaces for casual socializing: a small garden, a terrace, and the circulation spaces, designed to be perceived and function as proper rooms.

The organization of every floor places all private rooms on the front side to give cues of street life to all inhabitants. The street façade, alternating convex and concave parts, maximizes window surface and viewing angles for the rooms as well as integrating the mass of the building to the small & dense terraced houses adjacent to the plot.

The back of the building bears a peculiarity: it is the fourth (and missing) wing of a cloister garden. A continuous, monumental, largely translucent brick façade covers the back and side of the building. It offers the necessary privacy for the cloister as well as generous light for the circulation and living spaces. Modest but rich in experiences, the building inverts expectations on all levels.