GoereeOverflakkee is a peninsula in the South of the Netherlands. Here, small-scale agricultural use meets the dunes. The spacious building site is located on a shallow dyke on the transition between those very different types of landscape. Looking east one sees meadows and fields. Towards the other side there are windswept trees and dunes. One this site family R decided to built a house for themselves and their numerous children and guests to spend weekends and holidays.
The strict local building rules have been formulated to preserve the small-scale character of the place, its very modest buildings, lifestyles and the picturesque remains of a centuries old cultural landscape. The design therefore attempts to discretely fit a building programme far bigger than most neighbours into its surroundings in a simple, unostentatious way.
The chosen configuration refers to local building traditions and typologies. Just like a traditional farmhouse the house consists of several elements, a narrow ‘fronthouse’ parallel to the street and a much larger ‘barn’ behind it. Both volumes are internally connected and offer a rich variety of spaces, scales and views.
The building process has been organised as an international collaboration involving a local contractor and German carpenters. The house has been constructed using solid timber panels, varnished with a transparent whitewash kept visible. The surrounding gardens, terraces and landscape will gradually be reconstructed with care and respect to its surroundings, restoring original landscape elements that have been partly lost due to the construction works of the house and the garden of the previous owner.
