Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

Split View House

This is a project by UArchitects and it is located at Voorste Akkerweg, Mierlo-Hout, Netherlands. Project's program: Single family house. There are nineteen images for Split View House.

: © Daan Dijkmeijer

Project details

Project name: Split View House
Location: Voorste Akkerweg, Mierlo-Hout, Netherlands
Program: Single family house
Area: Gross Floor Area: 250 m2
Year: Completion: February 2012
More details: Construction Cost: 299,000 Euros
Client: Family van Renterghem
Project by: UArchitects
Team: Design Team: Misak Terzibasiyan, Emile van Vugt
Others: Contractor: Jansen&Vis • Construction Advisor: Vervest Constructief • HVAC Advisor: Volantis

Project images

Designer's statement

The family which wanted to build this house was motivated by the change in their living habits and wanted to express this in their new house. The two children of the family wanted to have their own living spaces but also wanted to be in close contact with the parents. On the other hand the parents wanted to have more private zones but also be in close contact with their children. Every floor of the house had to have a view of the surroundings.

The family wanted a house which is flooded with light, which is experienced in a different way with every changing season and finally they wanted to enjoy the surroundings from different locations in the house.

From the outside this house presents a viewable split level. A glimpse of the various functions of the house can been seen at different corners from outside and inside the house. For the term “split view” we could also use the term split mind, because the memory of the users of an average traditional house is at its best in traditional closed spaces (book of Joshua Foer). This theme mentioned in the book of Joshua Foer is as follows: If the person leaves the space where he has learned or read, the thought is easily forgotten when leaving the closed space; and when the person returns to the same space, then the person recollects the thought in question. Our mind/memory is categorized in rooms/spaces.

This house will be an interesting thought and behaviour experiment because there are various crossover and open connections between different spaces. We question ourselves what effect will this split view house have on the mind and the remembrance of facts and thoughts of the users of this house and will it result in a split mind/memory. Will the task of remembering and acting be influenced by the see-through and open connections in this split view house?

The interior of this house and its use is viewable from the outside of the house and each side of the house reacts in its own peculiar way, sometimes closed and other times open, sometimes friendly and the other times hard-minded, sometimes unanswered and the other times it lights up and reveals the inside.

Materials

The staircase is made of wood (Yellow Poplar) and connects the several levels of the house. The house stands at the intersection of two roads. We proposed to lift the house up from its surroundings and to mark the different floors levels with steel beams, which are also a reference to the road protection beams on the sides of the roads in the Netherlands. The other materials used are two coloured bricks (lxbxh = 240x90x40 mm), strong horizontal deep lying cement and vertical wood elements with different size (Plato wood: special modified wood), and the steel beams are galvanized and marks the beginning of the split in the house. The bricks are specially made in their colour with certain amount of clay. We try to find a balance in the facades and try to express the split view theme on the outside.