Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands Year of construction: 1997 Architects: Bjarne Mastenbroek, MVRDV Photography: Christian Richters
The Double House is situated on a street that surrounds a magnificent 19th-century park on the outskirts of Utrecht. Two families share the single building that represents a three – dimensional assemblage of the clashes and compromises between the lifestyles and requirements of its different owners. The mediatory role of the architects gave rise to the original and uncompromising design.
As in other projects, MVRDV decided to limit the number of variables involved in the design in order to simplify a potentially complicated situation. After producing numerous plans for the layout, it was decided to reduce the depth of the house in order to free up the plot and allocate more space to the yard. The strategy gave the design greater physical presence and
spatial potential, as well as much better views of the neighbouring park.
The house became a tall, slender unit. Then, sections replaced stories as the battlefield on which the two houses were spatially defined and fitted together. The trajectory of the party wall is like a negotiable boundary that is designed as a surface of uniform thickness. As it rises it becomes a vertical wall to which the noncomplementary layout of both parts of the house are appended.
Initially, this interdependency threatened to paralyze all formal and conceptual progress. Paradoxically, however, architects and clients have produced a final result that is much more successful than it would have been had they all worked individually.
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Right-baud page: The strategy of interior distribution aimed to create fluid spaces. Pillars and the vertical coincidence of the walls were eliminated. The concrete structure distributes the loads diagonally. |
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The two families living in the house wanted to enjoy the views of the nearby park. Access from the street to the yard and terrace had to be straightforward. The architects suggested a house with a minimum depth, with the result that the layout is distributed over five stories, leaving maximum space for the yard. |
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