The clients had bought a spacious and beautiful villa, and with all that space came a real risk. In a house large enough for everyone to disappear into a different wing, how do you stay a family? Their answer became the brief, and then the name of the project. Together Alone. They wanted one room where they could be together and apart at the same time. One person watching television, another reading, the children at their homework, a fire burning, all at once, without anyone getting in anyone's way

.Masters of Interior Design gave them that room. Working through the MasterPlan Methode©, Marc and Sven removed the wall between a second kitchen and the living area to open up a single, generous space. The plan curves like a half moon, its windows facing south to follow the light. On the north side, a discreet service corridor lets household staff move through the house without ever crossing the family's path.

Every element in the room was designed to hold people rather than to be looked at. A curved Minotti sofa of seven and a half metres follows the shape of the space. A leather clad fireplace mantel by Boley anchors one side, set into blue steel with a glass lift and niches for firewood. Curved window seating wraps the glass, softened with thick leather cushions, and it has quietly become the family's favourite place to sit. A dining table cut from a single tree trunk carries the weight of homework and hobbies far more often than meals. A custom buffet, built from the same planks as the floor, displays the children's sports trophies. A full workspace hides in plain sight, and a single button shifts the lighting from focused work to a warm film evening.

The result reverses the usual habit of a home. Where most families end up gathering in the kitchen, here the living room pulls everyone in. It holds the quiet of an ordinary Tuesday and the ceremony of the year's biggest night with equal ease. Once a year, eighteen family members sit at that tree trunk table with a chef in the kitchen and a pianist in the corner. Space and belonging, in the same room.

This is what the concept set out to prove. A large house does not have to pull a family apart. Designed around how people actually live, it can do the opposite, and give each person room to be alone without ever being far from the others.