Marie-José van Hee

Marie‑José Van Hee’s own home in Ghent, often referred to simply as “House Van Hee,” is a quietly assertive example of her distinctive architecture—a careful interweaving of interior and exterior, privacy and publicness, austerity and sensuality. Built between 1990 and 1997 on four narrow, merged row houses in the medieval Prinsenhof district, the project stands as an autobiographical testament to her architectural philosophy.


Originally renting one of the narrow row homes (just 3.5 m wide), Van Hee gradually acquired four contiguous properties when the landlord withdrew. With these spaces she embarked on a long, incremental transformation. She cleaned out a derelict backyard, navigating years of planning in between other work and economic upheavals in Belgium. During this time-sanctified process, she engaged in hands‑on building—installing battened wood windows and constructing a new stair—while waiting until the entire vision coalesced. She described her approach as a dialogue with the site and her own imagination: strolling mentally through spaces with a glass of wine, seeking volume, light, orientation; planning facades only at the very end.


Configured in an L‑shape around a courtyard and a gallery, the design choreographs a multi-layered transition between public street, intimate private space, and garden beyond. The compact street facade—with slim high windows—hints at interior volume while ensuring privacy. Bricks, given a light cement wash, harmonize with the context without drawing attention to their modernity. At the heart of the house lies a majestic double‑height living room—five meters high, with exposed wooden beams—evoking rural Tuscan rooms, suffused with daylight shifting beautifully from morning to evening. A stone staircase ascends to the library and bedroom, while an external covered staircase connects the bedroom to the garden—offering a fascinating secondary path through the architecture. In the shorter arm of the L sit the kitchen and bathroom. Van Hee intentionally downplays comfort to heighten physical awareness: for instance, even the toilet is located outdoors, emphasizing the boundary between inside and outside.



House Van Hee is the product of “travail patient,” an architecture of patience and stripping away. Over seven years, layers of inessential detail were shed until only essentials remained—a lived essence . The result is tactile sobriety with a strong undercurrent of sensuality. Van Hee intentionally seeks a timeless aura through calm compositions, clearly articulated volumes, and calibrated light. She rejects computer‑aided design in favor of evening sketches—lines drawn freely in conversation with space, not style.


House Van Hee is more than a dwelling—it is a mirror of life lived in slowness and attention. It sidesteps fashionable declarations in favor of quiet resilience and intimacy. It blurs thresholds, where one moves fluidly between street, courtyard, living volume, and garden. Shortlisted for the 1998 Mies van der Rohe Prize, it stands as one of Van Hee’s most personal and influential works—emblematic of Flemish “generation of 1974” architects who privileged tradition, craft, and human scale over spectacle.