De Vijlder 2
Following the ‘Slate House’ for their son, META was commissioned to design a detached house for his parents. The brief was completely different: a house for a couple with grown-up children, that work from home, who sought as open an atmosphere as was attainable.
Direct contact between the living areas and the garden was paramount, with an equal determination to block out the street.
The plan is organised within a rigid concrete frame with in-fill panels in masonry or glazing as appropriate. All living and work spaces are arranged around a central core, containing both the kitchen and bathroom. A direct inside – outside relationship is formed between all the principle living spaces and the garden, with the duplex in the double height space, serving both as a library and music room, adopting a more introverted character.
This compact dwelling nods in plan (clear distinction between served and serving spaces) and materiality (exposed concrete, masonry both inside and out, steel and glass) unconsciously to the architecture of Louis Kahn; at once rational, durable and prosaic.
usable floor area: 173 m²
design: 1997 - 1998
construction: 1998 - 1999
