Villa Meindersma / Cie

Architects: Branimir Medic & Pero Puljiz, de Architekten Cie
Location: Haaksberger, Netherlands
Project Team: M. de Jong, H. Hammink, R. Lambrechts, S. Moerman, S. Oehlers, J. Metz, D. Scholten
Construction Year: 2005-2006
Contractor: Klein-Poelhuis BV, Haaksberger
Client: Meindersma Family
Constructed Area: 400 sqm
Photographs: Christian Richters, Your Captain Luchtfotografie

Villa Meindersma stands on a free parcel at the end of a cul-de-sac on the edge of the village of Haaksbergen. The largely green surroundings comprise comprise villas from the seventies and present a rather timeless character.

The Meindersma villa is an introvert house. All the rooms are organized around a patio. The exterior facade has no windows, whereas the patio facade consists of only windows and doors. At the same time, there are frameless strip windows along the floor and the ridge of the roof, and sunlight moves like a corona of skimming light along the curves in the interior. These three strip windows offer a view of the garden and the sky. The house and patio have been elevated in relation to the surrounding ground, while, adjoining the garden room in the basement, ground level sinks to form a terrace at breast wall height. In this way, the double-curved volume of the villa lies in a gently sloping landscape.

The villa has an elliptical floor plan and a cross-section of a single-storey residence with a roof. The area is wider in the large living room and narrower in the bedrooms. The slope of the roof is also steeper in the living room, making this room higher than others. As a consequence of the fluently altering cross-section, the ridgeline skips up and down and the facade and the roof surface curve in all directions. The exterior has been realized in rough, natural materials. The roof and facades are covered with slates, while end walls are in brick relief. The fronts have been implemented in clear-varnished wood.

The house is organized in a linear manner. A corridor leads off the entrance into one large space in which cooking, eating, living and working are accomodated. A vide in the middle of this space gives access to the basement where the garden room, sauna, children’s bedrooms and storage areas are laid out. The living area narrows to a passageway off which the main bedrooms are situated. Contrasting with the exterior, the interior is smooth, white, and finished with abstract materials. The patio has also been designed as a room in the house. The size, material and careful finishing characterize the patio as a component of the living rooms. The surrounding garden harmonizes with the robust exterior of the villa.