Secure versus open.

Secure versus open.

House
De Haan 2017

Design and realization of an open single-family residence.

The design of this home is implanted onto the location of a building plot: a corner plot at the junction of two rural roads. A closed brick architecture embraces the home and front garden and thereby creates the necessary security with respect to these two streets. One big window breaks through that closed structure and thereby builds a visual bridge between the home and its surrounds.

Behind this wall lurks an open ground-floor dwelling. Big windows in the three walls offer a view of an indoor garden and the back garden. Each room has a visual relationship with this intimate outdoor environment.

The design team have separated the living room and bedrooms from each other. A closed corridor links the two entities to each other. The architecture of the two volumes externalises the totally different functions: The living rooms are located under a flat roof, whilst the bedrooms have a pent roof. A big window in the side wall of this upstairs floor draws in plenty of daylight. The roof slope reverberates via the void deep into the room.

EMPA - Egide Meertens Plus Architecten - exterieur - brick - black aluminium
EMPA - Egide Meertens Plus Architecten - exterieur - brick - black aluminium
EMPA - Egide Meertens Plus Architecten - exterieur - brick - black aluminium
EMPA - Egide Meertens Plus Architecten - exterieur - brick - black aluminium
EMPA - Egide Meertens Plus Architecten - exterieur - brick - black aluminium
EMPA - Egide Meertens Plus Architecten - exterieur - brick - black aluminium