living with a view
house at the dike, Uitdam
Uitdam is a small, picturesque village on the banks of the IJsselmeer. The clients found a small house to be demolished, next to the church and the dike, big enough for a new dwelling for two. Shape, materials, dimensions and the slope of the roof were almost fixed from the beginning. Spatial regulations in the area are very strict, as the inhabitants of the region, the municipality, and the tourists wish to protect the fragile, historically evolved cultural landscape with its present consistency and small-scale beauty.
The new house fits almost unnoticed in the existing neighbourhood; the dark colour of the façade, the traditional roof tiles and the sparkling white of both the edges of the roof and the window frames underline its familiarity with the traditional architecture of the area.
| location: | Uitdam |
| design: | 2010-2012 |
| realisation: | 2012-2013 |
| client: | D+M family |
| structural engineer: | Jaap Dijks, Pieters Bouwtechniek Utrecht |
| contractor: | Christian Dörschug, Aichach (timber structure) and Jan Runderkamp Totaalbouw, Volendam |
| photography: | Moritz Bernoully |
situation
By using solid timber panels as the basic material for walls and floors, the house gets a special and contemporary atmosphere. The clients chose the most refined smooth surface the manufacturer of the panels could deliver. Subsequently the panels were painted using a transparent white varnish, resulting in a slightly shiny timber surface, rather abstract yet full of character due to the natural pattern of the timber that is kept visible.
1 living room
2 dining room
3 kitchen
4 bathroom
5 guest room
6 bedroom
The clients, after moving in:
"Driving back after our very first meeting with the architect to discuss his first sketches we looked at each other, rather surprised. ‘There is not much to complain about, is there?’
Rien Korteknie had managed to precisely answer every question we had posed to him with our brief. From that moment on we actually only discussed details, and that we did at length and very often. We are impressed by the serious, unselfish attention we got from the beginning up to the very end, whether we discussed design issues or boring technical calculations. The meetings we had were always calm and adequate. Whenever necessary we organised meetings on site, and in between we made hundreds of phone calls and sent each other just as many emails.
"The result fits us like a glove. We asked for a modern but unpretentious timber house, spacious, light and with high, airy rooms. Monumental without being over the top."
- DM family
"The house is cheerful and comforting; it fits in the village and the surroundings and offers optimal views to the outside and long vistas in the interior. Monumental without being over the top. Full of invisible sustainable installations and very well insulated. With cleverly accommodated high ceilings inside despite the obligatory height of 2.5 m for the gutter outside. We got exactly what we had in mind, and a lot more."
The monumental tree in the backyard of the house played an important role for the design. The bedroom at the rear of the ground floor does not follow the orthogonal structure of the rest of the plan, in order to leave space for the roots of the tree. At the same time the wide angle of the space makes sure that the terrace between the dike and the house feels spacious and informal yet protected. From the first floor one overlooks both the pretty landscape and the water of the IJsselmeer.
