Country Estate, Antwerpen

A country estate near Antwerpen, designed by By Shakir as a complete residential commission. The project required a dialogue between the property's existing architectural character and a contemporary interior that the family could actually inhabit daily. Bespoke joinery, carefully sourced furnishings and a material palette that honours the building without imitating its era.

The Brief

The estate had architectural presence: high ceilings, deep window reveals, established proportions. The previous interior respected the period but had become static. The clients wanted something contemporary that would sit within the architecture rather than against it. Rooms that a family with children could use every day, not just admire.

The Approach

The key decision was restraint. Rather than stripping the architecture back to a blank canvas, we worked with its proportions. Ceiling heights dictated furniture scale. Window positions determined where seating would fall. The original flooring was retained where possible and complemented with natural stone in updated rooms.

New joinery was designed to echo the proportions of existing built-in elements without copying the period detailing. Clean lines, warm timber, contemporary hardware. The effect is of a home that has evolved rather than been renovated.

Colour was kept quiet. The palette draws from the surrounding landscape: greens and greys from the garden, warm creams from the local stone. Textiles add depth without introducing pattern for its own sake.

The Detail

The estate's scale required careful coordination between multiple trades: stonemasons, joiners, upholsterers and lighting specialists. Shakir managed each supplier directly and visited the site at key stages during the build. The 3D visualisation stage proved especially valuable for testing contemporary furniture against the existing architectural backdrop.