Experience Timeless Elegance and Modern Living in Mecanoo's Villa BW
How Does Mecanoo's Villa BW Harmonize Nature and Contemporary Design?
Villa BW is embraced by a naturally sloping landscape, featuring a double-curved roof and a distinct facade. The roof is formed by two overlapping shapes - a gable roof on the dune-side, reminiscent of the Oorsprongweg street scene, and a horizontal roofline on the polder-side.
The villa is built across three floors, with an extra level in the roof's hood. The terrain's natural course and the dune landscape's replenishment have resulted in the ground floor and basement level (-1) having a direct connection to the environment. Facing southeast, the connection to the sloped garden and landscape is further strengthened by two voids enclosed by a curtain wall system.
The connection between the landscape and the house is expressed through the facade and roof cladding, which is covered in a single natural material - a custom ceramic tile. This multicolored glazed tile cladding reflects the transitions in the landscape, from dunes to polders, and the soil layers, from light to dark.
In the interior, all living spaces are organised around the curtain wall-enclosed voids and an enclosed wood-cladded core. The curtain wall provides transparency and daylight down to the basement levels. The enclosed element feature of the interior from the basement to the hood of the building accommodates supporting functions. The interior design is completed by beautifully framed views of the surrounding countryside, utilising wooden frames passing through the traditional tile work.
The façade’s colour and appearance play a part in the transition from dune to polder landscape. The monolithic presence of the building volume is accentuated through the sloping roof surfaces and exterior walls. These are covered with tiles of the same continuous material - multicoloured glazed ceramic tiles. The hue of these tiles forms a coherent whole, making a connection and blending the building into the transformative landscape.
Colour use is consistent with the shades of the environment, ensuring that the villa is absorbed in the changing terrain. The dune and polder landscape in various seasons is mirrored in the design’s colour spectrum consisting of 5 shades of grey, green and blue. The glaze of the tiles is vibrant, and glossy and has an iridescent effect, creating a pearlescent appearance on the tiles, and also influencing the incidence of light on the appearance of the facade and roof.
