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Nxxx,2011-08-11,D,004,Bs-4C,E1 THE NEW YORK TIMES, THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2011
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His Dream Held Water A fan of water towers makes his home in one near Brussels.
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3. Many of the original features were preserved, including the down-pipe in the master bathroom. “We wanted the water tower’s essence to remain intact,” said Mauro Brigham, the architect for the renovation.
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1. Patrick Mets jokingly calls the nearly 100-foot-tall water tower he converted into a home Chateau d’eau.
4. A steel staircase in the master bedroom leads up to the living area, in what was once the water basin. The mirrored wardrobe ($17,500) is by Gielen, a Belgian design firm.
2. He and his partner, Valérie Lecherf, moved in two years ago, along with her two daughters and their three cats.
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By NICK AMIES
STEENOKKERZEEL, Belgium ATRICK METS has been fascinated by water towers since he was a teenager. He even imagined living in one. “I’ve always loved the shape,” he said. “No one water tower is the same. I wanted that uniqueness for my home.” Mr. Mets, 40, the director of finance and human resources for Aremis, a facilities and real estate management firm based in Brussels, got his wish two years ago when he settled his family into a decommissioned water tower here near the Brussels Airport. The tower, which soars more than 98 feet above the flat countryside, has many of its original features, including its concrete ceilings and stairs, and its immense water basin — most everything, in fact, except the 66,000 gallons of water it once held. “We wanted the water tower’s essence to remain intact,” said Mauro Brigham, of Bham Design Studio in Brussels, the architect responsible for the renovation and interior design. Mr. Mets bought the building in 1996 for 30,000 euros (then about $43,000), after years of weekend trips on his motorcycle searching for the right tower. It had broken windows and crumbling masonry, but it matched his vision. And although it had been sold at a public auction, he tracked down the new owner and struck a deal. “Some water towers are entirely empty,” Mr. Mets said. “But this one had six floors, which, along with its eight concrete columns, helped to support” the water reservoir at the top, which could hold 250,000 liters, he said, or about 66,100 gallons. “I began envisioning each floor as a separate living space,” he added. As it turned out, buying the tower was the easy part. Because it was in an environmentally protected zone with restrictions on construction, Mr. Mets spent eight years trying to untangle red tape before he discovered a loophole that allowed him to pursue his dream. By registering the building as a site of historic importance (the tower qualifies as a World War II relic; it was completed by the Nazis in 1941, during the Belgium occupation), it could be converted into a private residence as long as the original structure remained intact. Five years and 1.5 million euros (or $2.1 million) later, in 2009, the renovation was complete, and Mr. Mets jokingly christened his new home Chateau d’eau. The basin is the heart of the six-level two-bedroom home he shares with his partner, Valérie Lecherf, 38, a project consultant for a real estate consulting firm in Brussels; her daughters, Aurélie, 13, and Justine, 11; and the 9. family cats, Fidel, Castro and Grizzly. On the top level is a sleek kitchen and a living room with angular furnishings that contrast with the tower’s circular form; on the level below is the master bedroom. The entire fourth level, the family bathroom, is dominated by a nearly 15-foot-high shower, with a showerhead almost 14 inches wide that produces a considerable downpour “in the middle of the tower, where the water once flowed,” Mr. Mets said. The third level belongs to Ms. Lecherf’s daughters. (Their bedroom rebels against the industrial architecture with posters of Justin Bieber and Johnny Depp, playfully bright furniture and colorful bedding.) And on the first and second levels are the main entrance area, which doubles as a two-car garage in the winter, and the storage and utility rooms. Because of the tower’s high-tech soundproofing, the roof deck is the only place the family can hear the roar of jets taking off and landing at the airport nearby. It also offers the best vantage point for surveying the surrounding patchwork of cornfields, pastures and meadows, and is where the family gathers for barbecues in the summer. The building remains true to its origins, but as Ms. Lecherf noted, its industrial past has become a distant memory. “I suppose it is unusual to live in a water tower,” she said. “But it’s just a beautiful building. And for me, it’s just home.”
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5. Some of the walls in the open living space at the top of the tower are covered in blackboard paint that can be written on with chalk, to soften the minimalist aesthetic. The steel staircase leads to the master bedroom below and the roof terrace above.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREAS MEICHSNER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
6. The third level is a bedroom for Ms. Lecherf’s daughters, Aurélie, 13, and Justine, 11. The furniture was made by Bham Design Studio; the recessed ceiling fixtures are from iGuzzini, an Italian manufacturer. 7. Angular furnishings contrast with the home’s circular shape. The long couch in the living area on the top floor is from Dedon ($8,000). 8. The family bathroom takes up the entire fourth level. The freestanding bathtub by Matteo Thun ($8,400) sits on an oak platform.
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9. Grizzly, one of the family’s three cats, peers out from a compartment set into the wall behind the kitchen, on the top level. The kitchen’s white laminate floor plays havoc with the cats’ traction.
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