Villa Hoeven

Villa
Hoeven

Hugging the ground in the meadow landscape of the River Mark is an elongated house. The architecture of this villa is an imaginative response to a restrictive zoning plan, which stipulated a distinction between the main and secondary buildings and a gutter height of three metres. Two secondary buildings, one containing the bedroom, the other with a guest room and the garage, were created by inserting patios either side of the main volume. The prescribed gutter height was achieved by inverting the roof, a move that also made it possible to raise the height of the long elevations in order to maximize daylighting and views out.
The zoning scheme also laid down the number of square metres. By stretching the villa and giving the occupants the possibility of a ‘promenade architecturale’, and by carefully framing the view of the landscape, the architects managed to invest a standard programme with a great sense of space using only limited means.