Project: Urban Villa
Architects: Pasel.Kuenzel Architects
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Area: 3,304 sq ft
Photographs by: Marcel van der Burg
Urban Villa by Pasel.Kuenzel Architects in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Located in Amsterdam, the Urban Villa was designed by Pasel.Kuenzel Architects. The development of this 3,304 sq ft home started in 2013 and was recently completed.
The main focus of the architects was to develop a home that would encompass a plain and sobering aesthetic by reducing the design and amplifying the materialization and level of detailing.
The building is composed of a horizontal section for living spaces, and a vertical element that encloses the office space, bedrooms, and a roof terrace. The south side of the home includes a large window to serve as a viewing portal to the adjacent river. The architects decided to place a patio facing the front of the street in order to allow a threshold between the private and public places.
From the architects: “Close and compact are the residences lined up along the waterside of Grote Rieteiland, an artificial island in Amsterdam’s hip neighborhood Ijburg. This plain and sober urban villa is developed within a strict and complex set of urban rules. The villa with its reduced design lives from its refined materialization and level of detailing.
The building is a composition of a horizontal plint for living and a vertical element comprising work spaces, bedrooms for the kids, a master bedroom and above all a tremendous roof terrace. Due to a 12m wide glazed facade on the south side the main living area relates directly to the water. The house grants access via a patio facing the street and marking the threshold between public and private.
The unusual materialization of white painted raw timber boards of Douglas underlines the compelling power of simple things.”
