Board-marked concrete forms the walls of this rural home designed by Belgian studio Marie-José Van Hee Architecten for a Dutch businessman .

The four-storey residence known as Zuidzande sits on the the internet site of a 19th-century farmhouse and orchard in Zeeland, a province on the Netherlands’ western coast. Marie-José Van Hee Architecten was commissioned to layout the retirement home for a businessman who, getting spent several many years travelling, wished to settle in his area of birth.

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“The brief was to design a house for a single guy, a property fitting like a tailored suit,” explained studio architect Sam De Vocht. “He had acquired the constructing plot in the area exactly where he was born right after a nomadic expert life.”

After demolishing the present rundown farmhouse, the studio devised a new concrete and timber property for the client.

Arranging restrictions stipulated the new framework could not exceed the 850-cubic-metre volume of the unique building. To accomplish this, the team created a big ground floor with glazing that maximises scenic views, while upper ranges have a smaller sized floor program to reduce the total volume.

Horizontal timber boards have left their mark on the concrete exterior of a 3-storey concrete tower, which has a short chimney stack at a single side. Two timber-framed volumes angle from the base of the concrete tower, creating a greater Y-shaped ground-floor strategy.

These two wings are covered in vertical lengths of black-stained timber – a reference to the timber architecture of the region.

“We sought to have the developing also correspond in material to the nearby coast and therefore looked for a concrete brilliant in colour,” De Vocht told Dezeen.

“The surface was finished with horizontal planks, which we also utilized vertically to clad the ground floor volume. The black-and-white stained carpentry right references the local vernacular,” he extra.

Glazed doors front the interior angle of the blackened-timber block, directing views from a V-shaped residing and dining spot into the orchard. The doors slide back to give accessibility to a slim concrete patio sheltered by the overhang of the black timber roof.

A hearth sits in the centre of the ground floor, separating the residing room from the kitchen. The concrete chimney breast rises over the hearth, forming a spine to which the smaller sized upper floors are attached.

“We looked to geometrically sculpt the chimney,” stated De Vocht. “The height of the concrete volume, about twelve metres over the ground level, was a response to the presence of the only other creating on the website – an 18th-century barn with an amazing roof.”

A stairwell and elevator occupy significantly of the ground floor of the concrete block, with a little toilet and entrance hall to one side. The major entrance sits in a recessed doorway in this concrete volume.

Timber stairs connect to the master suite on the initial floor, a library and bathroom on the 2nd floor, and a roof terrace. A notch in the concrete wall permits end users to peep above the parapet to get in views of the agricultural landscape.

Given that moving into the home the owner has become father to two children and this 2nd-floor library has been commandeered as a children’s bedroom.

Photography is by David Grandorge.

Site plan Ground floor plan 1st floor strategy Second floor prepare Third floor prepare Cross sections Area one Part two Dezeen