Architect Bram Van Cauter, the co-founder of Antwerp-based Studio Okami, was still an intern when he first set foot inside Riverside Tower, the brutalist 20-storey apartment block that holds a certain mystique in the city, and pledged that one day he would live there.
‘There were all these crazy stories about who might live at the top,’ he recalls with a smirk. This is no dystopian tale in the vein of JG Ballard’s High-Rise, though. Instead, the tower, designed in the 1970s by Léon Stynen and Paul De Meyer as a tribute to the work of Le Corbusier, is a thriving community.
Not only does Bram own this 230-square-metre duplex – a vast open-plan testament to his love of concrete – but his studio space, his girlfriend Doris’s art gallery, Soon, and even his sister are all housed on various floors of the same building.
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‘Some people say concrete is too grey, but it’s beautifully textured, and there are different shades in it that change with the light,’ argues Bram. ‘It’s never actually grey!’
It is these subtle nuances that he has endeavoured to enhance and highlight with a bold yet considered use of colour. From the peachy polyurethane floors to the green dining table and powder-blue staircase, every hue was selected to soften and elevate.
And it’s a tactic that works, with Bram regularly inviting new clients to his home to convince them of what’s possible when working with this oft-maligned material. studiookami.com
