Dutch Mountain in Huizen, The Netherlands by Denieuwegeneratie Architecten

Article source: Denieuwegeneratie

The house is located on a historical agricultural plot amidst hayfields and woods in a nature reserve, a – for Dutch standards – hilly area. Although the plot has been overrun with small trees in time, it still bears the original character of the open field.

To minimize disturbance of the landscape and as a reference to the surrounding hilly terrain, the house is embedded in an artificial hill. At the same time, this answered the client’s demand for keeping his ecological footprint with the house to a minimum. The embedding in the hill simultaneously functions as camouflage and as a blanket, hiding the house from view from  the north side and using the earth as thermal insulation. One enters the house through cuts in the mountain, sided with panels of slowly corroding scrap steel.

South Facade

• Architects: Denieuwegeneratie Architecten
• Project: Dutch Mountain
• Location: Huizen, The Netherlands

West Facade

On the south side, the house has been opened to a maximum. The grand glass facade is framed in timber, which guides  the transition from the artificial to the natural. The canopy regulates sunshine through the seasons and allows for a large terrace along the full width of the house. The terrace follows the split level of the ground floor, jumps up to the higher west facade creating a hen-house underneath. Finally, it curls back up to become the canopy. The frame is constructed out of lark wood, forested from the immediate surroundings and therefore making it a hyper local use of  material. Detailing creates a seamless transition between the interior and the exterior: the concrete floor, window frames and terrace finishing are all flush and continuous from inside to outside.

North West corner

The spatial structure of the house is a rectangular 12 x 19 meter open space. Steel cross the entire 12 meter width allowing great flexibility to the interior arrangement. Inside the hall-like space, the rooms are stacked in a disorderly manner and built out of light wooden structures, facilitating easy implementation of possible future changes. The interior can evolve along with its inhabitants, a young family, rooms being added or removed through time.

North Facade

There is a binary spatial experience in the house. Either you are in a room, with a cave-like atmosphere, daylight coming to you through deep cuts in the mountain – or you are in the large open space in front of  the stacked rooms. This large space is oriented towards  the 90 m2 glass facade which offers a spectacular view of the surrounding woods.

East Facade

The contrast between shell and rooms is clearly visible. The concrete wall, needed to retain the mass of the mountain, is left unfinished. The welding joints of the steel spans are visible  and the wood is untreated. Within this rough shell of untreated construction materials, the stack of rooms tells a completely different story: every room is finished by the inhabitants in a unique and colorful way, which expresses the individuality of the boxes.

Living Space

The design is an experiment in sustainable strategies in both architecture – the hardware – and the technical installations – the software – which have been designed by Arup Amsterdam. The software concept consists of photovoltaic s, LED lighting, wood pellet heating in combination with low temperature heating, CO2 monitored ventilation, a grey water circuit and the use of smart domotics. The result is a house in which the total amount of energy produced exceeds its consumption: excess energy can be used for a electric car.

Kitchen

The house is bold and unpredictable: an experiment in sustainable strategies in concept, structure, material and technical installations. A house that blends quietly in its surroundings, but stands out with spatial surprises.

denieuwegeneratie is a young design office based in Amsterdam and was founded in 2008 by three partners: Sanne Oomen (1980), Oscar Vos (1979) and Thomas Dieben (1980)

We consider ourselves no-idealists, searching for strategies in sustainable design: transformation of the existing, structural flexibility, design modularity and temporal design. These strategies are a response to the major changes we are currently facing in (sub)urban life, architecture and design and should be used throughout all scales, from urban concepts to project materialization. Optimism, open source mentality and youthful idealism characterizes denieuwegeneratie.

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Tags: Huizen, The Netherlands

Category: House

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