Although the clients of this modern farmhouse would have preferred a modern, white villa with a flat roof, the “Westandsnota” prescribed a traditional structure with oblique roof and bricks.

P·A responded by translating these seemingly contradictory demands into a bold building replete with large glass windows and traditional masonry. Due to the tones of the materials and the roof form, the house effortlessly meets vernacular standards, but if you look a little closer, its large, open living spaces with their strong visual and physical connection to the surrounding landscape, are quite unlike the introverted spaces of the farmhouses in the vicinity.

The sight axes of the house are drawn from the long lines of the fruit orchard originally on the plot, and the distinctive concrete structure that runs through the house from front to back and from top to bottom not only structures the floor plan, but also defines surrounding terraces as well as the pond. The slope on which the house is located further refers to the mounds that protected the farms of the Bommelerwaard against flooding in earlier times.

P·A has designed this house with extreme care and personal attention, to facilitate the clients' explicit desire to realize their dream home themselves; John the house, and Peter the garden. In order to make this wish possible, Personal Architecture involved them in every detail of its realization, both in terms of technique and construction, in order to help John, as the main contractor, to realize his own dream home.

john van wijgerden

client

Peter van Bever

client

Roeland Bornebroek

architect at P·A