A quintessential sixties family house, located in a quiet residential street in the suburbs of Ghent, was due a complete make-over at the hands of its new owners. This project was intended to make the house more spacious and to meet all the modern standards of comfort, energy and aesthetics. Valuable furnishing graced the interior for decades and was to be preserved in the new design, specifically a mantle piece inspired by artist Pieter De Bruyne. It became a conceptual focal point referencing the “jewellery box” by the same designer. Preserving this original interior element as a ‘pearl’, will lend a certain authenticity to the new project. The existing house was stripped and rid of annexes. The gently sloping roof replaced by a steep gable roof and a new, one-storey volume inserted into the grid of the ground floor. The main building was thermally insulated and wrapped with a coating of light grey shingles, resulting in a crisp, gutter-free volume. The newly added volume with large windows and an all-white execution will form a stark contrast against this grey backdrop and will be finished off with an extensive green roof.