PATIO VILLA, NETHERLANDS

ROTTERDAM, 1988

A private residence


In a parody of the classical Dutch section of houses in the slope of a dike, this house was projected on the raised embankment of a highway that was never built. On the north, the road and the entrance level are one level below the main site. The garden and the main area of the house - on the higher level - are defined on the south by a canal.
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On the main floor of the house - more or less a square - a patio is placed in such a way that it generates, in combination with a free-standing wall, the living spaces of the house: a living area to the south, a dining zone to the north. The wall defines two "rooms" - a bedroom and a study - connected by a secret corridor that also gives access to the bathroom.

The garden elevation consists of four different kinds of glass - armoured, clear, etched and green, that create transparencies, obstructions and intensifications.

The (metal) east wall of the patio is a kitchen, the north and south wall are mobile, and the patio floor is made of glass planks that give daylight to the gymnasium below.