Architecture should always deal with premises of transparency and movement… I’m talking about a house that’s capable of capturing the change of seasons in a very discrete way. In Woerden, The Netherlands, an exceptional three-story building, with a total floor area of 200sqm, testifies such a fine achievement: Quay House. How does this contemporary Dutch architecture works? Let’s untie this amazing domestic puzzle.
The house is located near a covered parking and adjacent to the water. The front door access contains the major guidelines that stood behind the conception of Quay House: a ramp kindly receives inhabitants and visitors turning the exploration of this small building into a truly magical journey.
The distribution of the program follows this dynamic spatial order inflicted by the different circulation elements: a hall area reserves space to a small toilet and also the access to the basement level where a garage and a technical room are placed.
An open space conceals all the social areas: the kitchen zone is designed by the staircase that leads to the first floor, creating an informal separation between the living and dining rooms. On the upper level, two bedrooms and a bathroom are separated from a second open space by the staircase and its surrounding mezzanine space that provides natural light to the middle of the house.
And this quest for interior natural light leads to the transparency issue: the exterior cladding material consists of a slatted wall structure where horizontal axis plays a key role for shading and privacy requirements. White painted surfaces enhance the shadows and lightness inside this domestic architectural masterpiece…
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