Skip to main content

Paul de Ruiter - Villa Deys

Image
By

Paul de Ruiter

Villa Deys


Photo: Rien van Rijthoven

After seeing an article in the German magazine Haeuser, I've always wanted to know more about this house in English. The team at Paul de Ruiter have provided some great insight into this house and its design. I hope you all enjoy. Images courtesy of Alessio Guarino and Rien van Rijthoven as indicated.


Paul de Ruiter tells that he had always wanted to build a villa in what he still considers one of the most attractive locations in the Netherlands, on the outskirts of Rhenen, in the Rhine water meadows.

So in 1994, as an architect at the start of his career, he made a brave move and took out an option on a plot of land, which was in use at that time for market gardening, and became the developer of this site himself.

Henk and Jeanne Deys (65 years old) took the first of the four building plots along with a sketch design for the villa by Paul. Along with the green roof, top of the list were a pool and accessibility as the couple grew older. Whilst wanting to create something modern, emphasis was placed on blending in with the surroundings as well. If you look down from the hill just behind the house, all you see is the sod roof, the front façades of gabions (retaining walls) and the slat covered façades of the house, which resemble the many farm outbuildings in the area.



Photo: Alessio Guarino



Photo: Alessio Guarino



Photo: Alessio Guarino



Photo: Alessio Guarino

In producing one of his first houses Paul wanted to establish his style and create a modern, innovative residence. Despite and yet complementing this desire is the attention to meeting his clients needs.

Built for an elderly couple, there is nothing in the overall appearance of the villa that indicates this. Looking deeper you notice that there’s no stairs on the property, ramps up the drive, and everything is electronically operated by hardware hidden in the walls. The front door, blinds and curtains are all electronic. There’s also finer detail in the décor. The bathroom and kitchen feature colours so as to distinguish depth, noting that as your eyes deteriorate with age, single colour surfaces are harder to judge.



Photo: Rien van Rijthoven



Photo: Rien van Rijthoven



Photo: Rien van Rijthoven



Photo: Rien van Rijthoven



Photo: Rien van Rijthoven



Photo: Rien van Rijthoven



Photo: Rien van Rijthoven



Photo: Rien van Rijthoven



The living areas of Villa Deys are placed around the swimming pool and spaciously blend into each other. The bedrooms and bathrooms are in the back of the house in one strip, and the living areas are at the southern light filled front strip of the house. By adding an atrium and swimming pool between these two elements, then offsetting the roof heights, light enters the back rooms as well. The white floors and walls also help to further disperse the light.

The motivation for the indoor pool is threefold, it makes swimming all year round possible, provides safety for visiting (grand) children as it can be locked up, and lets light in between the front and back strips of the house. The glass used around the swimming pool, preventing moisture problems in the rest of the house, is partially sand-blasted. Only a 50 cm high strip at floor height is transparent. As a result, a swimmer in the pool can see into the living room, without being visible himself. The water in the pool is heated (27°C) and also functions as a radiator to maintain the temperature of the house.

A key feature of the façade is the panelled shutters. Electronically controlled, these can be opened manually or set on timers. An added bonus is that they close and lock, allowing the sliding glass door behind to be left open in summer without worrying about security.

Going one step further, Paul realised the potential for other architects to adopt these shutters and created BOIL. BOIL offers the possibility of sharing products and ideas with other architects and markets the intellectual ownership of the product. The returns of the company are used to finance new developments. For more information, see www.boil.nl.


DATA
Name: Villa Deys, Rhenen
Address: Schoutenboomgaardweg 1e, 3911 AG Rhenen
Gross floor area: 344 m²
Volume: 1.290 m³
Program: Villa suitable for elderly people, equipped with applications such as domotics
Start design: 1999
Start building: January 2001
Delivery: May 2002
In 2002 Villa Deys won two prizes. 'The Dedalo Minosse International Prize for commissioning a building' and the 'European Architecture Award Luigi Cosenza 2002'.

DESIGN TEAM
Commissioner: Private person
Developer: Architectenbureau Paul de Ruiter bv
Design: Architectenbureau Paul de Ruiter bv
Project architect: Paul de Ruiter
Project team: Michael Noordam, Sander van Veen, Dieter Blok, Lei Coppus, Hannes Ochmann, Mathilde Joosse, Willeke Smit, Monique Verhoef, Björn Peters
Adv. installations: Halmos bv
Milieukundig onderzoek- en ontwerpbureau BOOM
Lighting advice: Van Dijk en Partners
Interior architect: Architectenbureau Paul de Ruiter bv
Landscape ecology : Buro Zijaanzicht
Landscape design: Sytze Hager

via: Architectenbureau Paul de Ruiter bv


Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great blog! It's really nice to see such a thorough report on each project; photos, plans, data and the appropriate credits. Thank you for the meticulous work, we'll be checking in often.
16 November 2007 at 23:25
Nick Allen said…
Thanks Andrew.

I try to inform as much as possible and I'm glad that you like it.

I'll do my best to keep it fresh and new.

Regards, Nick
17 November 2007 at 16:19
Anonymous said…
i just want to ask if there is a basement floor for this house? thanks for the blog. nice work.
25 February 2008 at 04:50
Nick Allen said…
Hi Harvey,

Thanks for the comment!
No basement here, they've dug shallow (apart from the pool area) and added under floor heating instead.

Nick
26 February 2008 at 08:53
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hiroaki Ohtani - Kobe Layer House

By
Hiroaki Ohtani Kobe Layer House Continuing the last posts stripy theme, which is about all these houses have in common, despite the Japanese link. This is Hiroaki Ohtani solution to infill in Japan. The house is made up of pre-cast concrete strips, stacked unevenly to allow stairs, furniture and floors to be inserted in the gaps. It's tight, claustrophobic, yet entirely open. There are no internal doors, apart from the sliding doors to the toilet. Passing the tree in the courtyard, that brings irregualar form to this oterwise linear exterior, you enter on a landing, where you can either traverse to the bedroom, or head downstairs to the basement where a formal dining room and bathroom are housed. Climbing up you reach the living room and galley kitchen with a steep set of stairs taking you to the roof deck, of which half is a glazed panel to bathe the main stairwell with light. The front of the house is a larged glass panel to let more light into the house and the r
3 comments
Read more

Murray Cockburn Partnership - Kohara Lodge

By
Murray Cockburn Partnership Kohara Lodge Of middle earth - Murray Cockburn has created a true hideaway. Kohara Lodge, of local schist stone and sedum roof, sits in quiet vigil above the Shotover river. Oh, and it's a holiday let. Overview Kohara Lodge has been built with environmental considerations in mind. The owners' main aim was to put the land back to the way it was once building had finished hence the design of the property incorporating the natural hillside, and re-planting the grounds with native New Zealand trees. The architect's vision was to replicate the natural environment as much as possible. To this end natural schist stone from a local quarry was used and this was dry laid as much as possible and dry stacked. Recycled railway timbers have been used on the outside of the property and there is no paint anywhere on the exterior of the house. The windows at Kohara Lodge all have Comfort glass to prevent glare and reflection, built in UV protection and double
19 comments
Read more

Lund Hagem - Cabin Ameln

By
Lund Hagem , based out of Norway have a fantastic site, and collection of baches. Cabin Ameln, a providing sheltered BBQ retreat, and views out across the fjord. Contour hugging hunkered in design, connects with the site while minimalist layout and crisp finishes set it apart from your ordinary weekend retreat. Location: Østerøya, Sandefjord, Norway Size: 90 m2 Completed: 2009 The building sits in sloping terrain in close proximity to the sea. It has been designed to create favourable, screened outdoor areas. Previous buildings (4 in total) have been demolished and replaced with one new building that collects all functions under one roof. The L-shaped layout uses steps to follow the terrain so that the building can utilise existing vegetation and trees to avoid visibility from the sea. This layout creates one upper and one lower outdoor area/patio. The upper patio has been duly screened from the seafront, but offers views through the building due to glass walls. I think I've fo
8 comments
Read more