Ovidiuslaan

East of Utrecht is this 224m2 villa on a plot of 866m2. The house was originally built in the 1970s and has now been completely redesigned / enlarged to meet the needs of the new occupants: a young South African family that recently moved to the Netherlands.

The objective was to create a home that is closely connected to the outdoors, like they’ve had in their previous home back in Cape Town. To achieve this HOP designed the house with many large windows at the front and back going from floor to ceiling and creating a visual connection between the front garden and the back garden. Direct sunlight and rain will be avoided as much as possible by adding canopies at the large window openings with a steel frame going all around the edges of the roof and with visible wooden slats below. At the front windows the owners will plant a lively variation of plants to create intimacy and greenery at each side of the house. 

This villa is very energy efficient with its high-quality insulation, green roof, electric heating and solar panels. The canopies prevent overheating in summer and also extend the life of the wooden window frames and the wooden cladding of the hidden garage and entrance door. All visible wood is made from sustainable timber and left untreated to preserve the natural tones that contrast with the warm white plaster on the exterior.

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