We were commissioned to design a modern, open building that still radiates sufficient cosiness. What they especially didn't want was the typical loft feeling. There could be a connection between the spaces, but attention to sufficient intimacy. Furthermore, the requirements were relatively classic: four bedrooms, a garage, the usual residential functions and a home office. The ground floor actually consists of three rectangles that are offset from each other. This creates an interesting effect between the spaces, daylight enters from everywhere and the relationship with the environment is maximized.
Solid brick architecture
The house consists of three massive volumes in which deep cut-outs have been made in each case to create natural sun protection and covered terraces via small and large canopies. An elongated brick enhances the massiveness and it combines nicely with the dark anodized aluminum used for the windows, front door and garage door.
The intention was to design a pure, solid architecture.
Brick played an important role in this. In the first place because the building fits so well with the brick architecture that dominates the area. In addition, the stone ensures that the different volumes connect seamlessly with each other.
Architecture and interior as one whole
At the front of the house is a morning terrace, which connects the office space at the front and the kitchen at the back. This in turn is linked to the dining area via a second covered terrace. A floating fireplace furniture separates the dining area from the lounge, themost intimate space in the house, which is given an extra experience through a double view of the garden and a patio. Behind every corner there is something new to discover. The house has a very open plan, but the intermediate zones create a cozy feeling everywhere. The purity of the facade architecture is also reflected inside. The entire interior is bespoke and is an integral part of the architecture. The design starts from the inside out.
The way a home looks is a result of how our customers want to live. The functionalities and the experience of them form the starting point. You notice the hand of TOOP architectuur in the lines and detailing of the openable kitchen cabinets. They are not only functional, but follow the axes present in the house. The same goes for the kitchen island, a large square block in the center of the room. The top is accentuated as a whole, with a negative joint at the handle and a plinth detail that aligns with the cabinets. Details that are not immediately visible, but that also steer the visual tranquility and experience of the spaces.
Hotel suite feeling
You reach the first floor via a wooden double staircase. The parquet from below just continues there. The landing forms the link between the master bedroom for the parents on the garden side and two children's rooms with a communal bathroom on the street side. The master bedroom is conceived as a real hotel suite. Behind a hidden sliding door are the bathroom, integrally finished with mortex, and a dressing. Extra daylight enters the latter through a narrow recess in the dividing wall between the two spaces.
That light comes from the full glass ceiling of the walk-in shower. That skylight is something that regularly appears in our designs. Here, for example, the principle has been applied in the children's bathroom, where the dome is integrated above the washbasin. We always want to provide a bathroom with sufficient natural light. You quickly lose privacy through a window in the facade, or you have to work with window coverings, but then the whole idea disappears. You don't have that problem with a skylight.
Material Used:
1. Facade cladding: Petersen Kolumba (bricks)
2. Flooring: Parquet Flooring
3. Windows: Reynaers Aluminium
4. Roofing: Soprema (Roofing)
5. Interior lighting: Flos and others
6. Interior furniture: Bespoke
