“-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. 

This type of a floor plan would make me think of a poorly done adaptation of an old building. The surprise comes when realizing that it is part of a construction completed in 2007. So, there goes that theory…

Original layout:
•  Completed: 2007
Surface: 125m²
Balcony: 9m²
External storage: 6m²

•  Well, the issues here are clear and pretty obvious: the bedrooms. ALL of them.
• Bedroom 1 (lower right corner) is the biggest one and appears to have an en-suite. I say appears, because the L shaped room above it is presented also as a bedroom. Will dissect that one next.
Accessing the master bedroom through the living room is not the biggest digression ever. It is, however something to avoid whenever possible.
• Bedroom 2 (the L shaped space accessible through the master bedroom) has no windows, no glass doors, no decent ventilation. It is thus not a viable bedroom. Period.
• Bedrooms 3 and 4 (top side of the floor plan) are perfectly suitable if you are hosting the Von Trapp family. Otherwise, divider walls are a cheap investment to preserve the sanity of the future tenants.

New layout:

• The space of the bedrooms 1 and 2 makes for a great master bedroom, with a generous wardrobe and an en-suite. Moving the door to the tops side means the room can be accessed directly from the main corridor. It also allows the division between the actual sleeping space and the utilitarian ones (wardrobe and en-suite). This usually helps is preventing possible fights in case of completely different schedules. Any little bit helps…
• The two newly divided bedrooms 3 and 4 have each direct access from the main corridor as well as their own little exterior space. They have been designed as children’s bedrooms, however the spaces can easily house double beds or offices.
• Now that all the unnecessary doors and circulations have been removed from the living room, the space allows for an easier and much more efficient layout.

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