Located on the green edge of Strijp-R in Eindhoven, Studioninedots designed family home Villa Fifty-Fifty as a
pavilion where volumes alternate between open and closed, and where life happens just as much outdoors as
indoors: a new typology for maximising visual and family interaction.
With the design of Villa Fifty-Fifty the architects took the opportunity to push the typology of the transparent
house. The clients, who commissioned Studioninedots some years back to design their first house, now desired a
minimalist lifestyle and requested to live with nature. Studioninedots sought to investigate a rather radical
translation of the view that living and outdoor functions are equally important. Avoiding the obvious locations,
all functions are randomly organized as connected volumes between two horizontal planes. This resulted in a
pavilion-like house that unfolds across the garden, enhancing the relation between the building and the
landscape, and in a unique patchwork of connections between open and enclosed, between inside and outside.
Half house, half garden in one single volume. Fifty-fifty.
Villa Fifty-Fifty is composed of functions organized both horizontally and vertically. The shared family spaces and
the parents’ spaces are located on the ground floor; the girls have their own rooms in the tiny house in the
tower which is designed to be self-contained. This tower protrudes vertically through the two horizontal slabs.
The entrance is situated at the intersection of the pavilion and the tiny house.
All volumes are interconnected and mutually independent. Within similar dimensions, the volumes have their
own atmosphere and light through the various roof openings and thus contribute to the transition of space.
The design is complemented with industrial materials, united under a palette of greys and with varying textures.
Glass dominates, naturally, to blur the boundaries between inside and outside and to allow for views and open
sight lines. Four enclosed volumes feature an unusual application of materials. The master bathroom volume is
clad with flagstones; glazed bathroom tiles adorn the walls in the bedroom and office. The round shed is
fashioned from semi-transparent corrugated polycarbonate. Wrapped in polished aluminium, the tower subtly
mirrors the landscape, creating an almost camouflaged surface that reflects the changing seasons and weather.
Additionally, customised applications elevate industrial elements into refined details. This open garden home
connects well to the adjacent woodlands and also the industrial heritage of Strijp-R is subtly echoed in the
design.
“You’re neither inside nor outside, you move from inside to outside to return inside and end up
somewhere outside.” - Jurjen van der Horst, Studioninedots
Design team: Albert Herder, Vincent van der Klei, Arie van der Neut, Metin van Zijl
Lead architects: Metin van Zijl, Jurjen van der Horst
Design team: Leire Baraja Rodriquez, Ruben Visser, Laura Berasaluce
Contractor: Buytels Bouwbedrijf
Construction: BreedID
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