A Belgian family keeps this apartment in the beachside resort town of Knokke. The design, by Stef Claes, makes prodigious use of birch, including a portal between public gathering spaces and private bedrooms clad entirely in the wood. Claes uses the birch to create operable, horizontal louvres that either allow for complete transparency between the seaside on one side and the nature preserve on the other, or conversely to create privacy for the bedrooms beyond when closed.

Location: Knokke, Belgium

Design: Stef Claes