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VILLA "ALL-IN-ONE" Some weeks we are four, some weeks one. Thats my family. As so many other modern families our needs are continuously changing. My three kids stay with my former wife every second week and my current girlfriend is travelling with her job six months a year. In the beginning I had to choose between buying a small apartment in the city or a row house. But neither alternative suited me; the apartment would have been too small when my kids were there, yet a row house would seem so empty when I'm alone. I wanted a house that could do it all. Isn't there a way to use the kids rooms while they're gone so they aren't just empty? From this question an idea for a house was born. With a system of rotating doors as room dividers we where able to create infinite flexible variations of open, semi-open and closed rooms. When I'm alone in the house I usually position the doors so that the whole building becomes a single room, then I can enjoy a space that is truly a luxury. During the weeks when my kids are here, the doors are positioned so that all of us have our own rooms. VILLA "GROWTH" With time my family has grown,first with a dog, then a boyfriend and now we have a little baby. We haven't moved once, instead our house has grown with us. As we have added ever more circular rooms in its square frame its resemblance of a Swiss cheese has become ever more striking.
The house is made out of light transmitting polycarbonate, when we need another room we carve it out from the block. There are no corridors in our house as all the rooms are positioned next to each other. They are connected in a network that shows the order in which they were added. To start with there where just four rooms in one side of the house but now we have ten, almost filling the house. I often read books lying in bed and with time the bedroom has become my favourite place in the house. Through my window I can see a picture that changes slowly, not suddenly as when you turn a page or switch channel, but continuously, in the rhythm of days and seasons. Around the window the walls are filled with a soft light, it's the daylight that penetrates the translucent insulation. VILLA "9-5" It hasn't been storming for quite some time, so the leaves can stay on the trees. They age whilst still firmly connected to their branches, acquiring a colour range otherwise only seen on the ground; yellow, red, green and all possible nuances in between. This tree stands proud in all its colour, in the atrium of my house. I can see it from the living room where I'm lying on the sofa writing. I can see that autumn has arrived, and with it bringing a sense of calmness that I enjoy. With time my family too has found calmness in a rhythm we enjoy. Ours days are divided in a practical way that gives continuity and security to our lives. Our house is divided in this rhythm too. The rooms form a circle, a cycle, round the atrium and its tree. The idea for the plan came from something as trivial as a clockface. Each room is positioned so that its function relates to the context of views and daylight conditions. The sun sets in our living room and rises in our kitchen. The working room faces the street, while the bedroom is on the quiet side of the house. From the living room one can see the best view of the surroundings. I turn around and look at the sea, the sun sets on the horizon and I finish my notes for the evening and head for a walk along the beach.
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VILLA "ALL-IN-ONE"
VILLA "GROWTH"
VILLA "9-5"
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