An abandoned former war period sports building constructed in the 1940s was largely thought by developers and real estate agents to be headed for demolition until the client bought the site and decided to turn it into a private villa.
The architectural transformation undertaken by MASA Architects began by revealing the raw beauty of the existing walls and in particular the concrete structure beneath. Designed to accommodate large spans for a sports hall, the structure encloses a grand volume of interior space. The next question was how to separate rooms while preserving the open nature of the space.
Instead of standard partition walls, individually designed furniture elements were incorporated. The furniture units do not touch the ceiling and integrate glass and mirror surfaces on their top surfaces to maintain the visual continuity of the volume while creating human scale-spaces. The made-to-measure furniture units were constructed from natural materials – each material only applied once – resulting in different interior spaces that are unique yet related.
Lines between the indoors and the garden are intentionally blurred to create visual continuity. Windows initially not reaching the ground were replaced with large floor to ceiling openings along the façade while the polished semi-gloss concrete floor reflects light that comes through the larger windows and enriches the overall feeling of lightness and openness.
At the end of the house, a great view opens from a swimming pool ‘box.’ The kitchen and living area are located along this same axis. A 3-meter-high mirror surface on top of a glass wall from the side of the living room results in the optical effect of an endless ceiling, visually expanding the space further.
While the ‘naked’ brick walls provide warmth and texture to the interior of the house, a new metal façade was added to the exterior to protect the integrity of the original structure and subtly conceal what is perhaps one of Rotterdam’s most spacious homes.
