Hasta La Ideas

Dutch architect Bastiaan Jongerius was commissioned by six families to design this group of houses around a communal courtyard in Amsterdam (+ slideshow).

The buildings were constructed on a plot of land in the city’s Jordaan district, which the city council had simply handed over due to contaminated soil and a number of buildings yet to be demolished.

Bastiaan Jongerius Architecten decided to retain and renovate two buildings on Elandsstraat to the north, creating a four-storey townhouse and a pair of maisonettes behind the rough brick and blue stone facades.

The architects then constructed a row of three new three-storey houses facing south onto Lijnbaansstraat, each with earth-coloured brick walls and wooden fenestration details.

A narrow alleyway leads from Elandsstraat into the L-shaped courtyard at the centre of the site, which is shared by all six residences.

Five homes have french windows that open out to wooden patio decks around the edge of the courtyard, while wooden balconies overlook it from both sides.

Interiors feature exposed concrete ceilings, white-painted timber walls and wooden staircases.

Another Dutch housing development completed earlier this year featured two rows of brick houses sandwiched between a pair of canals in the town of Den Helder. See more houses in the Netherlands »

Photography is by Milad Pallesh.

Here’s some text from Bastiaan Jongerius Architecten:

Six courtyard houses in Amsterdam

In 2004, three couples with children who were looking for suitable housing in the city centre decided to join forces in order to commission their own construction project. They set their sights on a plot of land between Elandsstraat and Lijnbaansstraat.

In order to avoid open tendering, the city council sold the plot complete with contaminated soil and buildings that had yet to be demolished. There was space for six housing units, enabling a further three families to join the project, and the six households then formed a ‘collective private commissioning body’.

The land was divided into six condominium units, each of which also included a one sixth portion of the communal garden courtyard. The design process was an intensive trajectory of endless discussions, structuring responsibilities and monitoring costs.

Architect and resident Bastiaan Jongerius designed a plan in which the edges of the plot are built on, giving rise to a central private courtyard.

Two buildings on Elandsstraat have been carefully incorporated in the existing facade frontage. The dwelling at number 133 is characterised by an abundant use of glass and wood, while the adjacent building, which houses an upstairs and a ground-floor dwelling (numbers 135 and 137), has a bluestone facade.

Behind the door, above which are the names of all the children who live in the complex, is an alleyway that leads to the garden courtyard.

Three pavilion-like dwellings, which are accessed via wooden steps, are situated here. The front doors and facade gardens of these dwellings are on Lijnbaansstraat.

The housing scheme has injected new life into this narrow cul-de-sac.

The post Housing Elandsstraat by
Bastiaan Jongerius Architecten appeared first on Dezeen.

Thatching covers the walls as well as the roof at this house in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, by Dutch architect Arjen Reas (+ slideshow).

Located on the edge of the city, the building was designed as a cross between a contemporary house and a traditional Dutch farmhouse. “We wanted to capture this rural and urban living in one design,” Arjen Reas told Dezeen.

The thatched cladding begins just above ground level and wraps up over all four sides of the two-storey gabled structure, interrupted only by projecting canopies, windows and a chimney.

“We used the thatch like a warm hat and pulled it down over the edges,” explained Reas. “The benefit of this is that the thatch becomes touchable. Also when looking through the windows, it surrounds you.”

Tall narrow windows create vertical slices into the roof and walls on the two side elevations. Meanwhile, glazed doors fold open from the rear elevation to connect the living room with a terrace and garden.

“One of the priorities while designing this house was to provide the residents with a magnificent view of the scenic landscape,” adds the architect.

A rectangular volume projects forward of the front elevation to create a two-storey-high sheltered porch, while a ramped driveway slopes down to meet a parking garage in the basement.

Storage areas are also located on the lowest floor, while living and dining rooms occupy the ground floor and the first floor contains four bedrooms and a bathroom beneath its sloping ceilings.

Thatched roofs have cropped on a few recent architecture projects in the Netherlands. Amsterdam studio Inbo has completed a town hall with thatching covering five curved blocks, while Rotterdam studio Maxwan has renovated and extended a thatched cottage.

See more thatched architecture »
See more Dutch houses on Dezeen »

Photography is by Kees Hageman.

Here’s some more information from Arjen Reas:

This project is a private assignment for an entrepreneur from the city centre, and the question was posed, how could the family find peace on the edge of that same city. The site located where the city and open planes meet, and therefore has an obvious recognition that cannot be ignored.

In the earlier times people here used to work with shapes for houses that were pure and plain, thatch was used as a cover for the roofs and the walls where made out of stones and a clay plaster.

We were challenged to fuse together traditional ideals with a contemporary house design, a cubistic shape placed in a desolate landscape, where all urban feeling is gone when you look at the surroundings. Contemporary rural living was chosen as a project to mix the two in pure form.

Above: basement floor plan – click for larger image

New Dutch Design

When working with pure forms it’s also important to look at simplicity, durability and expression. The mix of two very different but recognizable materials in the Dutch landscape results in a both a modern and traditional structure. The fine texture of the thatch in combination with the smooth white plaster surfaces a house is formed that is very modern and traditional at the same time. The compactness of the thatch gives optimal protection against the elements.

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

The interior successfully combines natural materials creating something unique. By designing a natural interior certain tranquility arises throughout each room and now there is also room left for the residents to restyle their space continuously.

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

One of the priorities while designing this house was to provide the residents with a magnificent view of the scenic landscape. This was successfully done within each room in the house. Daylight falls deep into the house and lights up the space within and gives it a dynamic character during the day, while by night the house radiates its light to its surroundings and thereby marking its position in the landscape.

Above: section one – click for larger image

Layout

Via the slope residents can park their car in the basement, where there are also two extra storage rooms and an entrance to go up by stairs and enter the main living space with a beautiful open kitchen where all the modern comforts are integrated in. When walking through this open space towards the large transparent slide doors, you immediately get pulled to go into the garden. Here you can sit and relax or walk on the plateau to oversee the whole landscape.

Above: section two – click for larger image

The main entrance is surprisingly spacious and with its transparent separation with the kitchen a lot of light is coming in. Here you can enter the scullery, toilet, wardrobe or walk straight up the stairs to the second level. On this level you can go to the main bedroom, the second bathroom and three other bedrooms.

Above: west elevation – click for larger image

In the master bedroom the residents can choose to go and have a spacious shower or to go and take a bath before or after going to bed. When sitting in bath or lying in bed, you still have a great open view at the landscape.

Above: east elevation – click for larger image

Designer: Arjen Reas
Location: Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
Project area: 744 m2
Floor area: ca 360m2
Project year: 2009-2010
Construction: Adviesbureau Docter
Contractor: C.L. de Boer & Zn BV
Thatch: Voogt Rietdekkers

The post Living on the Edge
by Arjen Reas appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch studio Maxwan has renovated a thatched house in the seaside town of Noordwijk in the Netherlands and added concrete and glass protrusions to the front and back (+ slideshow).

Named House N, the residence dates back to the 1930s and had become run down over the years, so Maxwan was brought in to repair the existing structure and create more room on the ground floor.

The architects added two extensions to the house. The first is a precast concrete block that stretches the kitchen out beyond the facade, while the second is a glazed box at the rear that extends the living room into the garden.

“We wanted the extension of the kitchen to read as one monolithic object, almost like a sculpture or a piece of street furniture,” Maxwan’s Jason Hilgefort told Dezeen.

Strips of glazing across the roof of each extension create a visible separation between the old and new structures.

To create a new route up to the second-floor attic, the architects installed a spiral staircase with a custom-designed filigree balustrade.

“This historic lace-like pattern traditionally would have to be repeated to be formed, but this was fabricated with a metal laser cutter,” explained Hilgefort. “Therefore, the pattern could do things traditionally not possible, which is why we chose to warp it in places.”

“An additional feature of the lace pattern is that it is structural. This is why the pattern is more dense at the tread level, but has a more open transparency along the handrail.”

Bedrooms, bathrooms and the basement in the house are also renovated, plus the thatched roof is restored.

Other residential extensions completed in the last year include a barrel-vaulted addition to an English farmhouse and a dark brick extension to a red brick house in France. See more house extensions on Dezeen.

Photography is by Filip Dujardin.

Here’s a project description from Maxwan:

House N
Extension to a seaside villa
Noordwijk, 2012

Built in 1938, this Noordwijk seaside villa was originally the holiday home of a concrete factory owner. Battered and blustered by the salty sea weather over the decades, the house was in need of renovation.

Besides roof replacement and basement repairs, the bedrooms, bathrooms and windows were outdated and some spaces had grown too small for the clients’ requirements. Maxwan’s additions bring new distinctive features to the house, while respecting its original character.

Extending into the back garden with floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides is the new living room, which maximizes light and views from among the treetops towards the garden and further out to the sea.

In the opposite direction stretches the new kitchen, incorporated in a single precast concrete block. Its color contrasts to the existing house while harmonizing with the surroundings.

Both extensions of the new kitchen and living room are clearly separated from the existing structure with glass slits, through which the sky dramatically bursts.

The bespoke spiral staircase connecting the uppermost levels elegantly uses the balustrade to support the treads, with the laser-cut pattern blending from closed to open for structural efficiency and recalling the breaking waves. The attic is given a new lease of life by new multi-functional wall furniture and large windows.

In addition to these major components, the entire house is renewed in a manner complementary to the original house.

Above: concept diagram – click for larger image

Client: private
Country: Netherlands
City: Noordwijk
Scale: S
Team leader: Rene Sangers
Partner in charge: Hiroki Matsuura
Team: Anna Borzyszkowska, Larraine Henning, Jason Hilgefort, Claudia Strahl
Collaborators: F. Wiggers – Varsseveld (structural engineer)

Above: site plan – click for larger image

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Above: second floor plan – click for larger image

Above: cross section – click for larger image

The post House N by
Maxwan appeared first on Dezeen.

Chunky horizontal bands divide the floors of this house in the woods outside Utrecht by architecture studios Powerhouse Company and RAU (+ slideshow).

Home to a family of five, the house comprises three storeys, including one that is buried underground. Living and dining rooms occupy the ground floor, while bedrooms are located upstairs and the basement floor contains guest rooms and a swimming pool.

The architects conceived the top floor as a “village of cabins”, which follow a different outline to the ground floor below. To achieve this, they installed a complex steel frame that surrounds a set of five rectilinear volumes.

“One of the most important aspects of the house is the amazing steel structure,” Powerhouse Company‘s Stijn Kemper told Dezeen. “There is this 11-metre free cantilever that makes the design possible, but the funny thing is that it’s completely covered up, so you never see the structure. It’s a strange experience.”

Different materials are applied to the facades at each level. On the ground floor, a wall of glazing fronts the garden-facing south facade, while the rear is clad with a mixture of glossy travertine and mirrored glass. To contrast, the top floor walls are covered with dark-stained wood but are also interspersed with mirrored glass windows.

Two hollows in the ground surrounding the house slope down to meet the basement floor, helping to bring natural light to the swimming pool and two guest bedrooms.

A small pavilion at the other end of the garden provides a playroom for the children. More mirrored glass is used to clad this structure, which can also be used as a separate guest house.

Charles Bessard and Nanne de Ru founded Powerhouse Company in 2005, with offices in Rotterdam and Copenhagen. This isn’t the first time the firm has teamed up with Amsterdam studio RAU, as the pair worked together to design a competition-winning dance and music centre for The Hague.

Other projects by Powerhouse Company include a spiral-shaped house extension and a woodland house near Arnhem. See more architecture by Powerhouse Company.

Photography is by Christian van der Kooy.

Here’s some more explanation from Powerhouse Company:

Villa L – Paradox of Uniting Diversity

Powerhouse Company, in close collaboration with RAU, recently completed Villa L. Designed to fulfill the desires and needs of a young family, Villa L is set in the woods of central Netherlands, fully oriented towards the sun and the views on the garden. Villa L is a spatially diverse residence where every floor has its own strong identity, creating a broad spatial spectrum within a unified whole.

A young family with three children asked Powerhouse Company to design a house that would fulfill their dreams: a paradox of a house that is simple yet surprising, open yet specific, minimal yet luxurious. Powerhouse Company resolved these contradictions with a sustainable design for a house based on a radical differentiation of spatial experiences on three floors (of which one is subterranean); the maximum buildable size on this site. Three clear levels, with three very different characters and functionalities as a basis for family life to emerge.

Family life

One level is for living, a generously open ground floor. A strip of serving rooms containing storage, toilets and stairs, provides easily access to the luxuriously open living spaces. The kitchen and living room are oriented maximally to the sun and view. In close relation to this living area there are two studies located on the north side next to the entrance.

Village of cabins

The collection of rooms on the first floor provides space for sleeping and privacy. Set in a delicate roof garden, all the bedrooms are autonomous volumes crafted in their entirety from dark wood. They work like a village of cabins, providing intimacy and privacy. Every room is like a world of its own with private views over the wooded landscape.

Wellness and retreat

The curved basement is for guests, wellness and storage. The excavations allow the pool and the guest rooms to have fully glazed facades and direct access to the garden.

Smart Sustainability

RAU designed innovative sustainable measures including a hot and cold-water storage and extensive use of hidden PV cells. The basement contains a dedicated area for the high-end energy saving installations.

A house designed for the hectic life of an evolving family; fragmented yet united, plural yet whole.

The audacious structural engineer Gilbert van der Lee, also responsible for engineering Villa 1, designed the structure, including the soaring ceiling of the living room. The interior furnishings are designed by interior designer Bart Vos.

Above: site plan

Location: near Utrecht, The Netherlands
Partner in charge: Nanne de Ru
Co-architect: Thomas Rau
Design: Nanne de Ru, Charles Bessard
Project leader: Stijn Kemper
Team: Ard-Jan Lootens, Bjørn Andreassen

Above: exploded axonometric

Structural engineering: Gilbert van der Lee – BREED Integrated Design
Sustainability: Thomas Rau – RAU
Project management: Stef Pierik – Pierik Projecten Groep BV
Contractor: Coen Hagedoorn Bouwgroep BV
Landscape design: Sander Lap – LAP Landscape & Urban design
Interior design: Bart Vos – VOS Interieur

Above: ground floor plan – click for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click for larger image

Above: basement floor plan – click for larger image

The post Villa L by Powerhouse Company
and RAU appeared first on Dezeen.

A spiral staircase climbs the all-timber facade of this house in Amsterdam by Dutch studio Egeon Architecten (+ slideshow).

Located in one of the artificial island communities of Ijburg, the family house has three storeys that include living rooms at ground level, bedrooms on the middle floor and an office on the top floor.

The outdoor staircase is tucked into a recess in the front wall and leads up to a balcony on the uppermost floor, providing a separate route into the office that doesn’t trail through the house.

“The house is situated with a superb view to the south,” architect Egon Kuchlein told Dezeen, explaining his decision to place the office on this level.

Egeon Architecten laid cedar strips horizontally and vertically across the facade and also clad the window shutters so that most openings can be camouflaged.

At ground level, the rear wall is replaced with a row of floor-to-ceiling windows that open the living room out to a garden behind.

Many buildings have been constructed in the new residential district of Ijburg in recent years and others we’ve featured include a house with a glazed rear facade and a house that is partly clad with dark-stained wood.

See more houses in the Netherlands »

Photography is by Chiel de Nooyer.

Here are a few more details from Egeon Architecten:

Villa Rieteiland-oost’ – a spacious detached house on the commuting Rieteiland East, IJburg, Amsterdam

Clear almost mathematically devised private house carried out in wood and glass. Controlled elaboration, consequently carried out in interior and exterieur.

To the traditional arrangement of living on the ground floor and sleeping on the upper floors a floor is added for working from home. The ground floor has a glass facade with large sliding doors on the garden side, so that the residents can benefit most from the view. The bedroom floor is more open to the inside, the outside more closed. The floor with the office and consultation room has views all-around. Open / closed / open.

The timber frame house is built from fair and sustainable materials, has a heat pump and low temperature underfloor heating, natural ventilation, high insulation values of roof walls and floor, special heat-resistant glass, a sedum roof, attention to thermal bridging details and orientation. As a result, low level energy consumption realized.

Floor area: 225 m2, capacity: 700m3
Ground floor: living room, dining room, kitchen, sanitary, engineering.
1st floor: 3 bedrooms, bathroom, engineering.
2nd floor: office, consultation room, bathroom, terrace, separate entrance.

Above: ground floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: first floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: second floor plan – click above for larger image

Above: section – click above for larger image

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by Egeon Architecten appeared first on Dezeen.