OFFICE 219

Maison Guiette, Le Corbusier’s first foreign commission, was purchased by the fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester and photographer Patrick Robyn in the 1980s and renovated by the architect George Baines at their request. As the house was always meant to be semi-detached, the new owners bought the adjoining plot in the 1990s and commissioned Baines to build an extension to serve as a fashion atelier. Two more buildings were added to the cluster, making a unique combination of living and working quarters. OFFICE was commissioned to redefine this compound and propose a new fashion atelier on the wedge-shaped corner plot. Extending over four floors, the triangular insertion is simply a perimeter, its structure carrying shelves, tables or clothes hangers. The building performs as a hinge connecting neighbouring buildings and as a vitrine for the esteemed fashion house. Its glass facade is covered in steel mesh curtains for sunshade and privacy.