Concept and Spatial Layout
This wheelchair-accessible house is part of a small-scale, private residential development on a former school site in Dordrecht. Designed with a focus on movement, this terraced house features a simple yet highly spatial layout with a cheerful atmosphere—an element of distinct importance for someone who spends more time indoors than average.
The design is specifically tailored to the needs of a rolling life, allowing the resident to navigate effortlessly between the various volumes. The home is organized around two central circulation systems—an elevator and a staircase—around which the secondary functions are logically grouped.
Inside, the spatial layout defined by these two functional cores is enhanced by a bold yet complementary color palette that brings warmth and tranquility to the home. Beyond these two cores, the design is further anchored by a specific flooring concept. The floors are designed as a patchwork, featuring a characteristic and stepwise diagonally staggered tile pattern that marks the central pivot of the house. This pattern visually connects the elevator and the staircase on the landing. At the sliding doors and window reveals, slightly convex terracotta tiles have been integrated as thresholds. These provide a subtle haptical experience when moving with the wheelchair from the main spaces to the hallway, bathroom, or outside.
The kitchen features an automatically height-adjustable countertop, and the bathroom is spacious and practically laid out to enable a life as independent as possible.
Context and Facade Architecture
The property is located in the Sterrenburg residential neighborhood in Dordrecht. The architecture forms a contemporary nod to the surrounding 1960s architecture. This specific archetype, characterized by alternating brickwork bay widths and window frames with panel infills, has been modernized in our design and translated into a sleek, vertical facade composition.
The facades are designed to be cost-effective and straightforward to construct. By simply stack-bonding the bricks in the front facade in two bays of differing widths, cutting loss and waste were prevented. A Hagemeister Weimar dunformaat (thin format) brick was selected, featuring a light sandy-yellow color that aligns with both the plot passport guidelines and the yellowish surroundings.
Conceptually, the facades are richly textured in relief, serving as a counter-narrative to the flat, barrier-free interior spaces. A subtle relief and play of shadows was introduced into the masonry by alternating flush joints with 15mm deep raked joints. In an alternating pattern, these accent joints align perfectly—both horizontally and vertically—with the window frames and wooden cladding elements. The theme of the 1960s panel infill is reinterpreted by cladding the surfaces between the brickwork with sustainable, ribbed wooden slats of Foreco Waxwood Colour in a warm brown tone. This lends the facade a surprising level of detail throughout the day under the influence of the sun.
The rear facades are constructed entirely out of timber, fitting the green, informal back of the house, where the rear garden adjoins a diverse mix of individually designed, privately developed homes. Subtle details in this facade include the simple zinc box gutter and downspouts, the subtle lines in the cladding aligned with the window frames, and the finish of the extension with an invisible roof trim concealed behind the slats.
Sustainability, Construction, and Color
Partly driven by budget considerations, the design achieves expressiveness and functionality through minimal means. The carefully arranged composition of openings, the timber box gutter, and the rainwater drainage contribute to the plasticity of the volume, reusing stylistic features of the surrounding neighborhood in a modern way.
The house is built using traditional methods, featuring calcium-silicate block walls, concrete floors, and a timber roof structure. A significant portion of the construction budget was purposely invested in the elevator and the specialized kitchen. A more sustainable structural shell was extensively researched during the design phase but proved too costly within the overall budget.
Inspired by Le Corbusier’s Polychromie Architecturale and Dordrecht's historical affinity with color in architecture (Dordrecht being the first Dutch municipality with its own dedicated city color palette), we worked with a harmonious color scheme that creates contrast and layering. The entrance is executed in a striking, earthy orange. The elements of sky and water are expressed in the gutter and downpipe, which are painted in a contrasting pastel blue. The timber window frames, including the aluminum stop profiles, are painted in an opaque brown so that they blend entirely into the wooden surfaces, ensuring that only the linear play of the mullions draws attention. Finally, the roof is fitted with an anthracite-grey, matte, flat roof tile (Röben Bergamo) that blends inconspicuously into the neighborhood, directing the focus entirely toward the expressive facades.
Total Design
Villa Rollada is a total design where architecture, interior, use, and experience come together to form a single harmonious, bold, yet practical and cheerful living environment—a solid foundation for a rolling life, matching the optimism and vitality of the clients.
