gjG House is one of the experimental houses BLAF architecten is known for in Flanders and beyond. It belongs to their research 'Brick Wall City', which looks at how material, construction and the look of brick architecture depend on each other.
After the EPB energy performance standards arrived in 2006, insulation in walls kept getting thicker, and facades moved to light, cheap cladding: plaster, scales, tiles, textiles. For brick buildings that meant brick tiles glued onto the wall like 'exterior wallpaper'. BLAF spotted the problem early. Layers glued together can't be separated later, so when the house reaches the end of its life, what's left is a huge pile of waste that can't be reused.
