Expanding The View.

Program.

Project Summary.

The first time I arrived at the existing house I could not believe my eyes. What a beautiful location! Almost on the top of the hill overlooking a Lagoon and at the same time see the Ocean. Surrounded by beautiful nature this location is one of its kind. Sadly, the current house did not exploit these surroundings at all. Small windows, overhanging structures, and a very dark inside by the lack of natural light. This house could be something very special when opening up.

The client gave me a budget and card blanche, which is not always a good thing for a designer. But because I had this direct feeling of opening up the house, this would become my guideline to make a renovation design proposal which would transform this house into one with its surroundings.

To keep it close to budget I investigated the existing structure and opened up which was not load bearing. By keeping the parameters of the house and keeping the roof structure the base of the design, minimal impact to the structure is granted.

One big problem of the existing situation is the driveway. The current driveway is steep, has a tight bend and is slippery when wet. Also walking up is quite a hike as there are no stairs. To get this right we decided to place the existing garage out of the house in a new build garage lower and more towards the street to shorten the driveway, make it less steep, and add stairs for a saver approach. By taking the garage out of the house we got more space within the existing build and reduced the urge to extent. Therefore, the renovation became more about opening up and give the house a new appearance.

To open up towards the amazing views, the front façade is designed with mainly glass. Because the orientation of the front façade is Northeast facing, I integrated awnings. By making the glass facades diagonal inwards towards the highest point of the roof, naturally the awning becomes deeper and protecting against the sun without extending outwards.

The rear of the house has beautiful views of nature. To exploit all the different views, I make different entertainment areas at different levels. The areas are connected by an open flow and provides different views for a ‘opening up to nature’ experience.