Black Barn House

Situated on the edge of the Oostelijke Vechtplassen marshes, this barn house is the culmination of a five-year, on-site design study that saw the plot of land gradually transformed in apparently reverse order. First the garden, then a workshop and a temporary home, and then the studio and the guesthouse. The five-year study offered an opportunity to explore, research, and assess the area’s deeper qualities based on its relationship with the surrounding landscape, its personality during the four seasons, and its spatial character.

Karres en Brands was involved in the design from the very beginning. The conversion’s aesthetics, position on the plot, general spatial layout, and materials were decided in close dialogue with the future residents. Together with Jan Richard Kikkert from Amsterdam-based Architectenbureau-K2, these sketches were further developed into a fully-fledged design. Rotterdam-based studio OXL was responsible for the permit process and detailing during the building preparation work and actual construction.

The design of this barn house is based on the simple, slightly asymmetrical main form of the construction volume, which functions as the ‘skin’ of the home both from an outside and inside perspective. Inside, this is reflected in the open floor plans of the different floors, with atria and vista forming an unbroken connection between all the spaces and ensuring views as far as the ridge of the house’s roof.

Outside, semi-detached terraces and entrances have been created in various places, carefully adjusted to the intended use and season. There is a summer terrace close to the kitchen, a terrace for winter or early spring on the south side, and a covered entrance.

The south side of the house has fewer windows than the north side – this, in combination with the shutters, keeps the house cool in the summer. The windows are positioned based on the layout and function of the interior spaces and the axes of visibility with striking features of the surrounding landscape. The building’s darker exterior disguises a much brighter interior, as two large skylights fill the house with light on the inside.

The choice of materials is characterized by simplicity: the outside features thermally modified, blackened wood, while the inside is fully white with stand-out features in the kitchen, wardrobe, cabinets and oak stairs.

Ground floor

First floor

Second floor