On one of the most beautiful places of a small holiday park, on the most eastern inhabited Dutch Wadden island of Schiermonnikoog, an existing holiday home with the Frisian name 'Ferskûle' has been replaced with a new, delicately designed retreat. The residence for an active family is designed as a place to relax and unwind. The Frisian 'Ferskûle', which means 'hidden', was the concept that led the design process. We have expressed this by creating several spaces where you can nestle yourself, lie down, contemplate or gaze outside, find new perspectives or total relaxation.
Regulations on the island dictate a maximum gross building envelope of 110 m2 within a clearly defined building area. Within this compact site, a diverse pallet of places and "moments" has been created, each with its own character and quality of stay during the day and throughout the seasons.
A bay window in which you can lie down, a living kitchen with a central cooking table in its heart, a sunken sitting room with a wood fireplace and lowered perspective on the surroundings, a study with a panoramic view as from a birdwatcher's hut, bedrooms with view to the starry sky, a recessed alcove in the outer façade similar to a wicker beach chair, and an intimate outdoor seating pit sunken in the basement of the house. The new holiday home is full of special and surprising places.
We have chosen to keep the usually underground foundation of the house visible. A sturdy basement is the base on which the house stands and where spaces are also sunk into. This ensures that the house is anchored on the island and, together with the masonry, protects the light timber-frame structure.
The mass derives its expression from the prescribed gently sloping roof and façade openings at the corners, which are conceived as holes and cuts in the mass. The large corner windows in the kitchen and lounge in the southeast corners ensure that these spaces connect diagonally with the outside. The horizontal cut in the facade with the raised seats and workplace within makes panoramic contact with the vistas.
The materials chosen, their texture, and tactility are inspired by the materiality of the island and the feeling of the Wadden Sea. This concept is consistently implemented, from the weighty basement and the yellow brick with diagonal joint brushing to the soft gray floor finishes and the strongly dampened acoustic indoor climate. The exterior is characterized by stone-like solid materials. In the interior, materials with a velvety touch surface, wooden walls and ceilings, woven fabrics with natural tones, and a combination of indirect and limited but very precisely chosen warm light have been chosen. Solid on the outside and resistant to the salty and raw sea climate, the inside is just like a fine sweater, soft and warm.
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