Emerging Dutch firm Unknown Architects has renovated a 200-year-old house in Leiden by stripping back its interior, and inserting built-in furniture and a twisting white staircase (+ slideshow).
Daan Vulkers and Keimpke Zigterman of Unknown Architects were careful to restore some of the house’s character and spatial simplicity by removing non-original partitioned walls and suspended ceilings to create open-plan spaces on all three floors.
Wooden furniture elements were built on each level to accommodate seating areas, work surfaces and screens, while timber ceiling beams overhead were purposefully left uncovered to provide a contrast to the modern additions.
Keeping to their client’s preference that the kitchen was the hub of the home, the architects allowed it take over the entire middle floor.
Bleached nutwood was used here to build worktops and cupboards along the side wall, as well as a dining table with banquette seating and an adjoining dresser.
The ground floor can be used as an office, dining room or guest bedroom. Vulkers and Zigterman built a wooden platform at one end of the space, creating a raised seating and storage area that incorporates a fold-out guest bed.
A screen wall separates the staircase from a desk that cantilevers off one wall. It also contains recesses to provide extra storage.
The main bedroom occupies the loft and includes a new bamboo dresser.
Unknown Architects completed the renovation of a 17th century house in the historic city centre of Leiden
Unknown Architects is established by two students, studying at the Technical University in Delft. During their studies they became curious about working with clients. As a part of the honours programme they started this project, where they tried to translate the ambitions and wishes of a client in a design proposal. This cooperation turned out so well that this client decided to commission Unknown Architects for their first project, which was completed in November 2012.
All the non-authentic parts of this monument, like partition walls and suspended ceilings, were removed to bring back the authentic character and spatial clarity. In this relatively small house three fixed multifunctional furniture elements were added.
The ground floor functions as office and second bedroom. One bamboo furniture element incorporates storage space and a platform, covering a guest bed which can be pulled out.
An important wish of the client was to make the kitchen “the heart of the house” where all activities could come together. This was translated in two kitchen elements, made out of bleached nutwood. The central element includes a table, kitchen dresser and a fixed bench that shields the stairwell andprovides the best sightlines to the outside.
On the second floor we added one small dresser made of bamboo shielding the stairwell and providing a place to sit under the dormer.
In this project, we worked with different carpenters who specialised in working with different materials. In order to create a varied experience when ascending through the apartment, we opted for a different choice of wood for the ground floor and the first floor. All the floors – rubber – and walls – fine clay stucco finish – have the same finish.
The uncovered ceilings are intentionally kept as we found them and form a contrast with the new.
Dutch firm Unknown Architects has modernised a small seventeenth-century house by adding a large wooden structure that incorporates a staircase, storage facilities and sofa (+ slideshow).
Unknown Architects was careful to restore some of the 200-year-old building’s character and spatial simplicity by removing the non-original partitioned walls and suspended ceilings.
Located in the Dutch city of Leiden, the house’s ceilings were purposefully left uncovered to contrast with the more modern plastered walls and bamboo furniture in the rest of the property.
Working with a limited space, the architects designed a bamboo staircase that merges into a fixed sofa with integrated storage space, similar to the design of a ship’s cabin.
The sofa also acts as a pull-out guest bed, providing views of the garden through floor-to-ceiling glass doors at the back of the building.
Keeping to their client’s preference that the kitchen was the hub of the home, Unknown Architects combined it with the living space to take over the entire ground floor.
The kitchen table, work surfaces and storage space are all made of bleached nutwood, which acts as a natural accompaniment to the white, compact kitchen units.
The first floor has a master bedroom overlooking the property’s garden through floor-to-ceiling windows, and a children’s room intersected by a bathroom.
Unknown Architects was founded in 2012 by students Daan Vulkers and Keimpke Zigterman. They are currently involved in a number of projects in both Leiden and Amsterdam, where they are based.
Unknown architects completed the renovation of a 17th century house in the historic city centre of Leiden
Unknown architects is established by two students, studying at the Technical University in Delft. During their studies they became curious about working with clients. As a part of the honours programme they started this project, where they tried to translate the ambitions and wishes of a client in a design proposal. This cooperation turned out so well that this client decided to commission unknown architects for their first project, which was completed in November 2012.
All the non-authentic parts of this monument, like partition walls and suspended ceilings, were removed to bring back the authentic character and spatial clarity. In this relatively small house three fixed multifunctional furniture elements were added.
The ground floor functions as office and second bedroom. One bamboo furniture element incorporates storage space and a platform, covering a guest bed which can be pulled out.
An important wish of the client was to make the kitchen ”the heart of the house” where all activities could come together. This was translated in two kitchen elements, made out of bleached nutwood. The central element includes a table, kitchen dresser and a fixed bench that shields the stairwell and provides the best sightlines to the outside.
Cross section
On the second floor we added one small dresser made of bamboo shielding the stairwell and providing a place to sit under the dormer.
The walls are finished with white clay plaster. The uncovered ceilings are intentionally kept as we found them and form a contrast with the new.
Client: DoorZigt B.V. Location: Leiden, The Netherlands Program: renovation of house and office Gross floor area: 75 m2 Project architects: Daan Vulkers, Keimpke Zigterman Interior design: unknown architects Contractor: Bouwbedrijf Degewij Interior fit-out: Klaas Olthoff Keukenmakerij, Intopmaat
This house in the Dutch city of Almere by Swedish architect Johan Selbing and Swiss landscape architect Anouk Vogel is completely covered in reflective glass to allow it to blend in with its surroundings (+ slideshow).
Selbing and Vogel designed the private house for a plot in an experimental housing development in Almere – a city that was only established in 1976 but now has over 195,000 residents – in response to a competition brief calling for a building that would relate to a site within a forest clearing.
The house’s simple boxy shape is constructed from an aluminium frame that supports panels of toughened mirrored glass, with a mirrored composite panel running around the top and bottom edges of the facade.
“The Mirror House is a private villa with a facade consisting entirely of reflective glass, which acts as a camouflage and an obstruction of the view of its interior,” explained the architects.
Doors sits flush against the facade and are only noticeable thanks to handles that project from the surface and a change in the ground level that rises to meet the height of the floor inside the building.
An entrance at the the side of the building leads into a compact interior with a home office at one end and master and guest bedrooms at the other.
Sliding partitions between these rooms and the open-plan kitchen and living space can be opened or closed to meet different requirements.
“Long sight lines in the interior make the house appear larger from the inside, and anchor it to its surroundings,” the architects pointed out.
Surfaces are covered in pale birch multiplex panels that compliment the light-filled interior and views of the nearby trees.
Built-in storage covers one wall and is punctuated by a secret window that looks onto the street but is invisible from outside.
Selbing and Vogel were one of twelve winning entrants in the design competition. They were invited to construct their building but had to source a client to pay for it.
“In dialogue with the client, the competition proposal was worked out to the smallest detail, taking a demand for optimum accessibility into consideration,” the architects added.
The Mirror House is a private villa with a facade consisting entirely of reflective glass, which acts as a camouflage and an obstruction of the view of its interior. The floor plan has been designed to be as compact as possible, with the possibility to adapt to different lifestyles. All interior walls are covered with a birch multiplex panel, whose warm appearance contrasts with the elegant and strict glass facade.
After De Realiteit and De Fantasie, the third edition of small experimental housing settlements in Almere has been launched under the title De Eenvoud. The brief of the competition called for an individual house with a strong relation to its surroundings. The twelve winning teams were given the possibility to realise their designs in an open area in the forest of Noorderplassen-West, but had to find the buyers of the houses themselves.
The Mirror House is a private villa with a facade consisting entirely of reflective glass, which acts as a camouflage and an obstruction of the view of its interior. The floor plan has been designed to be as compact as possible, with the possibility to adapt to different lifestyles. In dialogue with the client, the competition proposal was worked out to the smallest detail, taking a demand for optimum accessibility into consideration.
The original concept with a slightly raised floor (for a better view), sliding doors, built-in cupboards and a single-level layout, has therefore been further refined. Long sight lines in the interior make the house appear larger from the inside, and anchor it to its surroundings. All interior walls are covered with a birch multiplex panel, whose warm appearance contrasts with the elegant and strict glass facade.
Shiny aluminium-clad walls allow this small house in Almere by Dutch studio MONO to reflect the colours of its setting (+ slideshow).
Named Rebel House, the single-storey residence was designed by MONO to be deliberately alien to the typical brick buildings of the local neighbourhood.
“The house looks like a spaceship which touched ground to mother earth,” said architects Gijs Baks, Jacco van Wengerden and Milda Grabauskaite. “It seems to want to leave any moment again.”
The house was constructed on a tight budget, so low-cost corrugated aluminium was used to clad all four walls. The same material also covers doors, allowing them to blend into the facade.
The interior surfaces of the walls are fronted with timber to give the appearance of warmth to the open-plan living spaces.
A grid of shelves stretches across one of these walls to accommodate a kitchen, storage areas and a large window seat.
The rest of the space is loosely divided up by the presence of a boxy bathroom that integrates extra storage areas and a sliding partition to screen off the bedroom.
Double doors open the house out to the garden, where the architects have added a triangular shed clad with the same aluminium panels.
Rebel House liberates itself from existing prejudices, and appears radically unconventional for a house. The house looks like a spaceship which touched ground to mother earth. The corrugated aluminum sheeting reflect the sun and the surroundings, and create an extreme lightness. The house seems to want to leave any moment again.
Both this dream and the raw realities of site parameters and proximity to its boundaries, budget limitations and the desire for low maintenance were crucial in the design development of Rebel House.
In contrast to the exterior the interior is warm and convivial. The timbered walls integrate a kitchen, an open cupboard and a deep windowsill as a ‘hangout’. The detached box houses all services of the house. Living around it is a continuous experience. The hidden, double doors open the house to the garden. The triangular, aluminium shed in the garden seems to provide an anchor for the house and completes the composition.
Client: private Architect: MONO (www.mono.eu) Location: Almere – The Netherlands Area: 77sqm Team: Gijs Baks, Jacco van Wengerden, Milda Grabauskaite Stuctural Engineer: On Man Interior Fit Out: Thomas Meubels
Dutch architecture studio Inbo has completed a transparent house in the Netherlands and has hidden it behind a grove of trees to protect the privacy of its residents (+ slideshow).
The single-storey house, named Villa Sterk, stretches across the full width of its site and features floor-to-ceiling glazing on its two longest sides, allowing views right through the building.
Inbo orientated the house so that its two long facades face north and south. “The location on the lot creates a north and a south facade with a public side and a private side, a sunny side and a shady side,” said the architects.
A dirt track leads up to the house from the nearby road. After passing through the woodland, the route leads into a sheltered driveway that cuts the house into two parts.
The smallest section accommodates a storage area and private office, while the larger side contains the main living spaces, which include an open-plan living and dining room, a pair of bedrooms and a separate study.
The house is raised slightly above the ground, so the architects have added small staircases and a ramp at various points around the perimeter, enabling easy access from the surrounding garden.
“The ground floor floats just above the earth as if the house has not yet ‘landed’ and is a guest in the landscape,” said the architects.
The end walls of the house are made from stone and extend out into the garden, while the glazed elevations feature doors that slide open.
Concrete walls and floors throughout the building’s interior are finished with natural white stone or stucco.
Solar panels have been installed in the garden to provide a self-sufficient energy source. The architects also want to add a folly at the end of the garden where residents can enjoy a cup of tea.
Photography is by Auke van der Weide.
Here’s a project description from Inbo:
Villa Sterk
Living in the countryside
On the outskirts of Bontebok, a village north of Heerenveen, Mr. and Mrs. Sterk have built a very special and interesting house. The long sweeping plot on which the house was built, is tucked away in the Frisian landscape and surrounded by ‘tree walls’, hiding it from the road.
Long lane through the private landscape
The house is designed within the landscape context. By placing the house across the full width of the lot, the lot is divided into a courtyard on the entrance side of the house and into an open landscape garden on the other side.
A long driveway leads the visitor through a small forest and the courtyard to the front door located at the entrance gate leading to the landscaped garden. The lane ends at the southern edge of the plot in the quiet of the countryside. At this point we suggested to make a folly where one can enjoy a cup of tea, while enjoying the silence of the landscape and the view of your home.
Inside and outside space gradually merge together
The architecture supports the spatial seclusion of the place. The location on the lot creates a north and a south facade with a public side and a private side, a sunny side and a shady side. The lot is enclosed by mature tree walls.
Where the tree rampart touches the house, a natural stone wall takes over the guidance of the landscape and at the same time serves as the termination on both short sides of the house. On the south side the stone wall retreats a little and provides a diagonal view of the landscaped garden. The ground floor floats just above the earth as if the house has not yet ‘landed’ and is a guest in the landscape.
Sustainable and energy efficient
The floors, walls and ceilings of the house are made of concrete, finished with natural white stone or stucco. High quality and durable materials that have been used include aluminum frames and high efficiency glass. The heat and cold storage in the ground ensures that no gas is needed. Together with a long narrow strip of solar collectors in the landscape garden, the house is very energy efficient.
Team: Eerde Schippers, Olof Schonewille, Fokke de Vries Location: Bontebok, The Netherlands Area: 470 sqm Project Year: 2013
A collection of vintage Aston Martins can be glimpsed through the fritted glass facade of this house in Maastricht, the Netherlands, by Dutch studio Wiel Arets Architects.
Named V House, the three-storey residence is sandwiched between two historic buildings in a part of the city where new structures have to match the scale of their surroundings.
Photograph by Bas Princen
Wiel Arets Architects designed the building with an asymmetric glass facade so that the edge of the roof slopes between the eaves of its neighbours, creating an angular plane facing up towards the sky.
The glazed wall is fritted at the base to maintain some privacy for residents, while thin curtains hang behind.
In contrast, the rear facade is made up concrete frames infilled with windows. A large void opens the ground floor up to the elements, creating a space for storing around seven or eight vintage cars.
“Due to the house’s very narrow site, the intention was to increase the amount of natural daylight that enters it, at both its front and rear,” project architect Alex Kunnen told Dezeen.
“Without the void that has been cut into the maximum volume in the rear, the house would have been far too dark. And so the fully glazed front facade and the back void work in tandem,” added the architect.
Two separate staircases lead up from the parking level to the first floor above. The first is a “fast” stair that ascends to every floor, while the second is a “slow” route that climbs gently towards a living room at the back of the house.
“It was always the intention to have two paths of circulation,” said Kunnen, “foremost for safety reasons due to the house’s large size, but also because the multiple paths of circulation create various cinematographic scenes throughout the house while they are being experienced.”
A fully glazed living room is contained within a suspended structure, hanging from a pair of I-beams that span the site at the rear. A combined kitchen and dining room sit just beyond and features a 3.5-metre cantilevered dining table.
The bedroom occupies the second floor, alongside an office that can be transformed into a guest suite by folding a bed down from the wall.
Glass doors open out to one roof terrace at the rear, plus a staircase leads up to a second terrace at the very top of the building.
Storage is built into the walls to minimise clutter, and heating and cooling systems are built into the floors.
Residents use iPhones to remotely open and close the house’s entrances, so there are no handles or keyholes anywhere around the exterior.
Photography is by Jan Bitter, apart from where otherwise stated.
Here’s a project description from Wiel Arets Architects:
V House
V House was constructed for a couple that collects vintage cars, and is stitched within the medieval tapestry of historic Maastricht. The city dictates all new structures remain within the envelope of pre-existing buildings, and so a cut was created in the house’s front façade to generate a triangulated surface, which leads from one neighbour’s sloped roof to the opposite neighbour’s vertical bearing wall.
As the house’s site is long and narrow, voids were cut into the maximum permitted volume to ensure that natural light spills throughout the interior. The ground floor is both open to the exterior elements and sunken to the rear of the site, which makes possible the maximum two-story height allowance. A covered portion of this exterior space serves as an outdoor parking garage for the owners’ collection of Aston Martins.
As the house finds refuge between two historical buildings, it is a burst of modernity within this currently gentrifying neighborhood of Maastricht. The house is enormous, totaling 530 m2, and is entered through two oversized sliding glass doors that perforate its front façade. These doors serve as the house’s main entry and open to either their left or right for entry by foot, and both simultaneously retract to allow the entry of automobiles.
Due to safety and privacy concerns, these glass entry doors have no handles or keyholes and are instead are remotely opened from any iPhone, from anywhere in the world. For further privacy the house’s front façade was fritted with a gradient pattern of dots, which disperse in placement as the house rises towards the sky and focus at a distance to compose an image of curtains fluttering in the wind. Actual curtains align the interior of the front façade to afford additional privacy.
Circulation throughout the house occurs via two paths. A ‘slow’ stair leads from the ground floor to the expansive living room, which is connected to the partially raised kitchen and dining areas by a small ramp. A ‘fast’ stairwell traverses the entire height of the house and, together with the platform elevator, allows for direct vertical shortcuts to all levels of living.
Thus this house, with its multiple circulation interventions, such as its living room ramp and ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ paths, is organised not around the traditional notion of stacked floors and is instead organised around its circulatory section. At the apex of this ‘fast’ route is the entrance to an expansive roof terrace that’s also the most public space of the house, as it offers panoramic views over the spired roofline of Maastricht.
The living room has been suspended from two I-beams that span two masonry bearing walls that surround the rear of the site. Steel tension rods measuring 5×10 cm extend from these I-beams into the almost fully glazed façade of the living room, which allows its volume to float above the Aston Martins below. For privacy reasons, this glazing was treated with a highly reflective coating that casts a hue of chartreuse or amber depending on the season and angle of the sun. Only when inhabiting the master bedroom is this hanging of the living room apparent, as the I-beams are visible from the master bedroom, which opens onto the living room’s roof, which functions as a private terrace for the owners.
Heating and cooling is provided via a concrete core activation system concealed within the floors and ceilings of the house, while all storage is built into the circulatory areas in order to divide spaces and define rooms. These custom designed storage units also outfit the office space, where they conceal a bed that can be lowered to accommodate temporary visitors, such as the owners’ now grown children. All storage areas recede in prominence due to their fluid integration, which allows the house’s interior to remain flexible and open for ephemeral definition.
The one-piece custom designed kitchen was constructed in stainless steel, and the dining table, which is connected to it, cantilevers 3.5 m toward the front façade. The custom furnishings and storage spaces, together with the in-situ concrete and multiple roof terraces, make the V’ house an expression of free space in a regulated heritage context.
One half of this energy-efficient house in the Netherlands by Paul de Ruiter Architects is raised above the landscape in a glazed box, while the other half is buried underneath a pool of water (+ slideshow).
Amsterdam firm Paul de Ruiter Architects was asked to design a home that would provide a comfortable environment all year round while minimising its energy use and impact on a site in a protected ecological area.
“It was an important wish from our client to create a simple, abstract, yet spectacular villa,” said the architects. “The result is a composition; consisting of two square stacked volumes: one underground and one floating above ground.”
The house’s upper storey seems to hover above the landscape, supported by a V-shaped steel frame at one end and a glazed box at the other containing a staircase that links it with the underground space.
The main living area, kitchen, three bedrooms, bathrooms and a multifunctional space are housed in the elongated volume above ground. Glass doors and partitions separate the various spaces on this level, including a walled-in patio with the living space and the master bedroom on either side.
Below ground, another rectangular box arranged perpendicular to the upper storey houses a huge garage, as well as storage, a bathroom and an office. A large picture window at the end of the office overlooks an artificial lake and the flat Dutch landscape beyond.
Throughout the interior, white walls and epoxy floors contribute to a clean and minimal environment that focuses attention on the views provided by the full-height glazing.
In order to build on the site, which is a habitat for many plants and animals, the owners were required to return what had previously been farmland to its original pre-agricultural state. They planted 71,000 young trees that will eventually obscure the house from view and added a rectangular pond above the underground storey.
Energy-saving techniques employed in the building include a fabric screen built into the insulated glazed facade that can be rolled down to reflect the sun, and create a void between the glass and the screen through which ventilation flows.
Wood from the private forest will be burned to heat water for the house once the trees have matured, while photovoltaic cells on the roof and a planned windmill will generate electricity.
Villa Kogelhof is designed based on complete autarky: therefore the house will be energy neutral. By using several techniques, the villa has a comfortable climate all seasons, whilst being extremely energy efficient. It was an important wish from our client to create a simple, abstract, yet spectacular villa. The result is a composition; consisting of two square stacked volumes: one underground and one floating above ground. It is designed as an uncompromising glass box, supported by a steel V-frame.
The 25 hectare estate is part of a larger program initiated by the government, which aims to connect regional ecological zones throughout the country. The current owner bought the site, once farmland, in 2006. It is a protected habitat for animals and plants and a major tourist draw in the area, open to the public.
Permission to build a house on the land was given only on condition that it was returned to its pre-agricultural state. The planning of some 71,000 six-year-old trees hint at the future of the estate as ‘a villa in the woods’ and were planted already in 2006. A rectangular pond was digged, requiring the removal of 70,000 cubic metres of soil.
Contrast
The underground volume of the house consists the entrance, parking (for 6 cars and a tractor), storage, bathroom and a workspace which looks out over the pond. The living area is situated in the floating glass box above ground. It’s floor plan is completely open, except for some subtle glass room dividers.
There are several separate volumes for the kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom and a multifunctional room. The patio has glass doors on both sides, so that it’s both accessible through the living room and the bathroom. The entire floor is covered with white epoxy and the furniture consists of designer classics from Le Corbusier and Eileen Grey. The façade is completely made out of glass and offers a spectacular view over the surrounding landscape.
One of the main principles of Villa Kogelhof was to translate luxury into the happiness of independence. The goal for the villa was to be self-sufficient; to generate its own energy, to heat its own water and to recycle the garbage.
To make sure Villa Kogelhof is energy neutral, the façade offers an important contribution. This so called climate-façade is composed of an outer layer of clear insulated glass from floor to ceiling and an inner layer of sun-reflecting fabric that can be rolled up and unrolled. When the fabric is lowered, an air cavity is formed in which the air from the villa is extracted of a central ventilation system.
The house is heated by a central heating system in combination with an air pump. Warm water will in the near future be generated by using a range stove, in which wood will be fired from the trees out of the private forest of the estate. Electricity is generated from the PV-cells on the roof and also from the planned windmill.
Gabled houses in vivid shades of red, orange and yellow line the streets of this new residential district in Groningen, the Netherlands, by Dutch studio architecten|en|en (+ slideshow).
The project was initiated as part of a masterplan by Dutch firm MVRDV to propose housing for 35 different sites within the city limits. Eindhoven studios architecten|en|en and diederendirrix teamed up to plan one of the sites, which is located on a former sports field.
While diederendirrix designed an apartment building for the northern boundary of the site, architecten|en|en planned a series of four urban blocks, each comprising approximately 25 row houses.
“Now the site acts as a new garden village, within the boundaries of the city,” architect Frans Benjamins told Dezeen.
Each three-storey block is finished in a different colour, which covers everything from the brick walls and steel roof tiles, to eaves, doors, window frames and letterboxes.
Gardens are contained at the centre of all four blocks, comprising a mixture of private and communal spaces.
“The original idea behind the courtyards was to create community areas, but because the houses are a mixture of sale and rent, we chose for the safe route – private gardens with semi-public courts between,” added Benjamins.
A standard two-bedroom house type was designed for the long edges of the blocks, while larger family units fill the gaps along the sides.
Photographs are by BASE Photography.
Here’s a project description from the architects:
Court Housing
The celebration of the Dutch Housing tradition.
On a former sports field within the ring road of the Dutch town of Groningen, a new residential district is being realised by creating a ‘scenery landscape’. This plan achieves the coherence and transition between the ‘garden village’ De Oude Hoogte and the industrial area on the northern side of the ring road. The division into sequential living atmospheres provides a varied range of housing typologies.
The northern boundary of the plan is formed by a long apartment building – designed by diederendirrix architects- that functions as a noise barrier towards the area behind it. Here, in the southern part of the plan, a connection to the existing garden village has been realised by the continuation of the road structure and the layout of the scheme in closed perimeter blocks. These blocks contain both the scale and characteristic design of the sloping roofs of the neighbouring buildings.
The housing blocks are designed in different configurations which create a variety of perspective spaces between them. The layout of the housing blocks consist of a combination of standard row houses on the long sides and specials on the short sides. Within these special dwelling types the entrances towards the streets and the inner courtyards are elaborated as white voids, based on the design of the nearby historic gateway named Cortinghpoort.
The inner areas contain a typical Dutch layout of private gardens with storages that are situated on a collective exit. The extra-large meandering design however provides an abundance of space resulting in a comfortable inner area.
The materialisation of the building blocks consist of a shell made of glued bricks, repetitive window frames and sloping roofs with steel tiles. By using just one colour for all these materials in each block, an almost artificial image is created. Because of their white colour, the corners and inner areas automatically become the special elements.
This riverside holiday house in South Limburg, the Netherlands, is raised on tree trunks to prevent flooding and clad with charred wood to reduce the need for maintenance (+ slideshow).
The small residence was designed by architecture studio Upfrnt, alongside charred timber consultancy Zwarthout. It is located on the banks of the fast-flowing Geul river, where construction is usually restricted to protect the environment, but was permitted as it replaced several dilapidated structures.
The design team used the traditional Japanese Shou-Sugi-Ban technique to burn the surfaces of the cedar cladding panels, creating a sealed surface that will protect itself and almost never need repairs.
The floor of the house is raised up by over a metre on a series of reinforced oak logs, as the nearby river is prone to frequent flooding. A wooden bridge links the entrance to the woodland pathway behind, while a series of steps leads down to the water’s edge.
The house incorporates several sustainable technologies that minimise its carbon footprint. “Upfrnt strive to design buildings that are in harmony with their environment,” explains Weijnen.
Alongside triple glazing and thick insulation, the house uses solar energy for heating and electricity. Waste water is also collected and filtered, so that it can be fed back into the river.
To enable a speedy construction, the house was prefabricated in Amsterdam by construction firm WHD Interieurbouw and was assembled on site in just three months.
Here’s some extra information from the design team:
Sustainable passive holiday house completed on the River Geul
Tucked away on the banks of the River Geul in South Limburg is a unique new holiday house created by Upfrnt architects, WHD Interieurbouw and Zwarthout. Permission to build on the Geul, one of Holland’s few fast flowing rivers is rarely granted because of the impact on the environment. Nevertheless the local council of Gulpen-Wittem was prepared to support this sustainable project in exchange for the removal of the original dilapidated buildings.
An interesting challenge for all parties was the frequent flooding of the river. In order to prevent water damage, the house was raised on poles made from local trees. A risen path was created to connect the house with the alley behind it.
Upfrnt strive to design buildings that are in harmony with their environment. The house is built following passive principles and has a low carbon footprint. Extra insulation and triple glass ensure year round comfort. Warm water is generated by solar heating. Electricity for cooking and heating is provided by solar panels elsewhere on the grounds. Sewage connection is unnecessary due to the use of a Helofytenfilter. Waste water is filtered and purified allowing it to flow back into the river cleaned. Use of the underground ventilation pipe for warming and cooling the incoming air increases living comfort considerably.
The complexity of building on stilts and the innovative sustainable character of the house required a resourceful team. Amsterdam based building company WHD Interieurbouw worked together with ZwartHout and the architect to bring this project to successful completion.
Despite huge window panes and an expansive view, the house is extremely private due to the positioning on the property. The house was prefabricated in Amsterdam and constructed on site. The silver sheen on the black exterior is the result of using the Shou-Sugi-Ban technique (Japanese burning of cedar panels) rendering the house virtually maintenance free. The building was completed within three months.
Dutch architects Jetty and Maarten Min have completed their own house and studio in North Holland with an arched rooftop, tiled walls and exposed tree-trunk columns (+ slideshow).
Jetty and Maarten Min, of Bergen office Min2, designed the three-storey Dune House on a coastal dune in Bergen and used unfinished timber, clay tiles and curved profiles to help the building fit in with its rural setting.
“An important design topic was to connect the form and the materialisation of the house with the place where it is situated,” they explained. “The high tall form had to fit in the dune landscape. During the design process this form became one of a dune or of a windswept group of trees sloping along with the worn landscape near the sea.”
Offering a twist on the traditional mansard roof, the house is wrapped on three sides by a skin of clay tiles, which were designed by Jetty Min with bespoke dimensions.
“These tiles give the impression of pot-lid shelves,” said the architects. “The brown/purple appearance of the British clay with its rough finish has to visually match the bark of the surrounding firs.”
Horizontal slices through this skin create a series of sea-facing windows on the north elevation, while a double-height window frames a view of the dune landscape to the south.
Inside, the house contains studio spaces on its ground floor, while the living areas comprise a two-storey loft above.
“One of [our] wishes has always been to live on the upper storeys because of the marvellous views of the sea and the dune area,” said the architects.
Kitchen, living and dining areas occupy a larger open-plan space on the first floor, surrounded by the chunky Douglas fir columns. Arched wooden joists are visible overhead, plus a boxy poplar staircase leads up to a mezzanine bedroom.
A similar staircase links the house with the studio below, which features a generous workspace, a meeting and conference room and a library. The houses’s bathroom is also located on this floor.
Poured concrete was used for the flooring on the two main levels, while the uppermost floor is covered with a carpet made from seaweed.
Here’s a project description from Jetty and Maarten Min:
The Dune House of the architects Jetty and Maarten Min, Bergen aan Zee
Min2 bouw-kunst is a Dutch architecture office, located in Bergen, in the north of Holland, at the sea. The work of the office is a co-design between architecture and art.
The owners of the office designed their own house in the dune area of Bergen aan Zee (NH). An important design topic was to connect the form and the materialisation of the house with the place where it is situated.
Design
The building enjoys a dominant position on a dune crest, alongside a local road, but it is almost invisible because of altitude differences and of tall pine trees, guarding the house closely. The house faces on the other side of the dune a drinking water treatment area. From here it marks the landscape, even from a large distance. They therefore have chosen for a strong “object-quality”.
Handling the building plan as a starting point within the zoning plan and the existing building regulations was also a challenge.The admissible constructing surface was 20 x 8 metres, with a gutter height of 3 metres. The ridge height was not indicated and therefore a ridge height of max. 15 metres was possible. These proportions made it possible to build the house vertically, an opportunity achieved by realising three high storey.
Because of the positive reactions from the local government they succeeded quite well in such vertical design. By solving this and other similar problems, the plan became more and more exciting.
One of the main concerns was that, in its appearance, the high tall form had to fit in the dune landscape. During the design process this form became one of a dune or of a windswept group of trees sloping along with the worn landscape near the sea.
The openings in the roof surface of the storey were designed from within: at the sea side as horizontal window strips and at the dune side as a huge window, where it is possible to imagine oneself in the midst of the dune landscape. The flat facade on the eastside eventually allows for a lift and balconies.
Materialisation
For quite some time they have been looking for the appropriate materials on the outside. Because the house is only 300 metres from the sea, they took the logical decision to choose for natural, sustainable and low maintenance materials. They called this approach a low-tech approach.
For the oblique facade and roof skin they thoroughly searched for an existing material that would fit into the rough romantic scenery. In the end, Jetty came up with the idea to design herself a tile that would fit the desired agenda. Following the remarkable Kolumba brick (Petersen Tegl) which was to be used for the dressing of concrete columns, a long ceramic flat tile was developed of 53 centimetres long, 17 centimetres high and 4 centimetres thick.
These tiles give the impression of pot lid shelves, but ones which are much more low maintenance. The brown/purple appearance of the British clay with its rough finish has to visually match the bark of the surrounding firs. Thanks to all these characteristics, the building perfectly fits into its surrounding environment.
This developing process took one and a half year. It has also been helped by the excellent cooperation of the professionals of Petersen. The roof tile, now called “Athene Noctua” (in German: Steinkauz), has now been included in the collection of Petersen.
The finishing of the eaves has been carried out in zinc and has been pre-treated against ionisation, which beautifully matches the tiles. The untreated wooden frames are made of Iroko, FSC approved and carefully handpicked to have the longest parts, in order to avoid gluing as much as possible. The reason to make use of untreated wood at this location stems from its low maintenance aspect, which also fits into the natural surroundings.
Where, if necessary, a lift can be build, the concrete stabilisation drives have been closed with untreated western red cedar parts.
The building facade has a timber frame with a high insulation value. Because of this starting point they could easily design the bent and beveled forms as a basis. The basis of these elements consists of whitewood collar beams with multiplex sheets. These are built in several prefab parts, made in the workshop, for a smooth progression of the building process and to generate as less disturbance in the protected green area as possible.
The low-tech approach continues also on the inside of the house. They wanted the two floors as one big, rudimentary finished space, which can then be used as a flexible living space, a new loft.
One of the wishes has always been to live on these upper storey because of the marvellous views of the sea and the dune area. In the penultimate version the starting point was a house with columns to be built above an existing bungalow: a second house above the first. After deliberation with the constructional engineer, it was finally decided to demolish the existing house because of the poor condition of its foundation. The carrying grid with its column structure emerged from this history.
They were also inspired by warehouses, by the farmhouses in the north of Holland, and by translating the Maison Domino by Le Corbusier into a handy craft level.
By applying Douglas firs with bark, they wanted to bring the effect of windswept trees around the house also into the interior, but in an abstract way. The floor of the first storey has been made as a wooden prefabricated element, hanging between the Douglas firs. Galvanised steel coupling agents have been designed. The concrete elements in sight are untreated.
On the ground floor are storage, studio, bathing room, library, working room and conference room. The inner walls and doors on the ground floor are non bearing, so to be as flexible as possible, and made of ecoplex and mdf. Sometimes a book cast is also acting as the separating wall between spaces.
The stairs have been placed into the space as loose elements. They are made of fast growing poplar, so as to be as environmentally friendly as possible. This kind of wood is soft but very dense, and has no knots. The beautiful light colour does not turn yellow, so it can remain untainted. Only the stair steps can use some extra protection.
The floor finishing consists of poured concrete and the hanging wooden floor slab between the trees has been covered with sea weed carpet.
They aimed to achieve as high as possible value of the materials and the goal was to reach a Rc of 5,0. The choice was made for superior insulating glass with as less as possible colour fading taken into account. For the studio we choose for colourless glass, in order not to have our work with colours influenced by the green radiation of glass.
The ventilation system is on demand controlled and offers smart solutions for the intake of fresh air. A vacuum cleaning system has been installed for a better interior environment. The domestic system is a basic one, but can be enlarged in future. The electricity supplies are provided in floor ducts.
In relation to the energy supply they do not make use of a natural gas installation. They use an air pump (because of the location on a dune), and glass vacuum tubes providing the heating – or cooling – of the floors and hot water. The next step which is in preparation is the installation of an Energy Ball (wind energy) for the generation of electrical power.
They very closely follow the evolution of sustainable power generation and very soon interesting products will emerge on the market which also will be aesthetically interesting. Those new products can be added in the present layout.
At this moment they monitor their power consumption to see which amendments will be necessary in order to reach the best values.
They carefully searched for the parties best suited to build specific parts. In this way is was quite natural to be working with wood and consult specialists as boat builders and woodworkers. They experienced that, with this attitude, they could inspire and stimulate other people. This is the basis for further developments.
They now live in the house and decisions concerning the interior, functions and forms are just starting to emerge. Piece by piece they handle the interior the same way as they handled the building process.
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