-Re House

-“Re” House No. 14

“-Re” House together with “-Re” Adapt are two series part of a project in which I review, refine and redesign residential projects available on the Dutch housing market. “-Re” House touches projects that have been completed after the year 2000 and could have been done more efficiently to begin with, while “-Re” Adapt looks at how to better adapt older residential architecture that was designed in a different cultural and historical context. 


I used to find this rather confusing, however by now I find rather fascinating how in a country that complains intensively about lack of space, 143m² can be so ineffectively used. To give you an idea, 143m² can easily be used to house one gigantic apartment, two decent sized apartments or a large apartment and a studio.

Original layout:

• Completed: 2003
Surface: 143m²

• Funny enough, “-Re” House no.13 had 74m² and 2 toilets. Here, we have double the surface, but only one. Not sure I can see the logic in that.
• The generously sized bathroom is placed close to the bedrooms, which is good for privacy, but implies its loss when guests are present.
• Though there is more than enough space, the washing machine and dryer are found in the bathroom instead of having their own designated room.
• The storage occupies prime location and has a window. The bathroom does not have access to ventilation, which I have explained before why is not desired.
• The size of the hallway and its location within the plan means that the space is under used.
• The walk in closed is located too far from the bedrooms, turning it more into a storage space.

New layout:

• To realize how much space there actually was under used in the original layout look at the fact that I was able to add an office, an extra toilet, separate laundry space and some closets, while maintaining the spacious bathroom and the walk in closed.
• I used the original location of the storage to create an office space. The advantage is that it is close to the entrance so it can easily be used without intruding in the private life.
• I added a second bathroom in order to further more separate private from public.
• And I have included the walk in closed in to the night area.
I have not changed the bedrooms and the living room as they are the spaces that require most light and thus their location was fine to begin with.


Click here for more “-Re” House projects
Click here for more “-Re” Adapt projects


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