In the town of Heemstede we renovated and redesigned a typical 1930s house with a new extension on the ground floor. Our starting point for the design of the extension was a visual and spatial connection between the living, the terrace and the spacious and sunny back garden. The floor-to-ceiling oak window frames, the skylight, a beautiful overhang and the wooden cladding of the extension accompany this connection and provide a beautiful space full of daylight with a Japanese appearance.

The original layout of the house consisted of an en-suite living and dining room, a separate kitchen with a small utility room, and a hall with a spacious staircase that connects these spaces. In our design we have connected the kitchen with two small passageways to the dining room so that, together with the living room, they form a spacious living. Over the entire width of the house we have extended the ground floor towards the garden. This creates a zone which, due to the overhang and the skylight, is a nice place to sit and read.

For the expansion we used natural materials that fit well with the architecture of the existing 1930s home and form the desired connection between home and garden. For example, the frames are made of varnished oak wood and the façade and underside of the overhang of stained vertical wooden parts. The overhang covered with natural slates forms a connection between the existing house and confirm the transition from the inside to the outside.