Glass pulls around the corners of the ground floor, so the view does not stop at a straight wall. It slips outward toward the garden and the water beyond. The house reads as a modern house with large glazing, where the opening in the base sets the tone for the rest of the volume. Designed in 2014 and realised in 2015, it was made for a young family with three children, with a size of approximately 220 m² and a volume of circa 700 m³.

A compact volume with room around it

The surrounding development gives the house breathing space. The villas here are kept to a limited volume, which leaves gaps between the buildings instead of a continuous row. That spacing matters. It lets the light reach the brick surfaces and keeps the timber-clad upper parts legible from the outside. The result is not a closed block, but a house that sits with clear edges and open views on all sides.

Inside that measured footprint, the plan stays modest in relation to the plot. The numbers are straightforward: approximately 220 m² of floor area and about 700 m³ of volume. Those dimensions support a family programme without pushing the building into bulk. You can see that restraint in the proportions. The house is broad enough for large openings, yet the mass remains controlled, with the horizontal line of the facade composition carrying across the elevations.

Brick, timber and glass set the rhythm

The material palette is limited and precise: masonry, timber and glass. A brick plinth anchors the lower part of the house and gives the base a heavier reading, while timber boards define the upper volume with a lighter, more layered surface. Between them, the glass sections cut clean openings into the elevation. The contrast is not decorative. It is structural in effect, because each material marks a different zone of the building and its relation to the ground.

The timber facade with brick plinth also keeps the composition clear from a distance. The masonry stays low and solid, the wood moves upward in horizontal bands, and the glazing interrupts both with large transparent planes. That arrangement produces a clean horizontal facade composition. It gives the house a measured profile rather than a stacked one, and it makes the windows feel integrated into the architecture rather than added as separate elements.

Ground-floor corners opened to the outside

On the ground floor, the corner glass windows take the main role. The glazing turns the corner instead of stopping at it, so the room can look in more than one direction at once. That move changes the way the house meets the outside. Views are no longer frontal only; they shift sideways and diagonally, which is exactly what gives the interior a stronger indoor-outdoor connection. The garden does not appear as a single framed scene, but as part of a wider field of sight.

Those diagonal sight lines to the garden and water are the quiet feature that shapes the experience of the house. They pull the eye past the edge of the room and through the corner, creating depth without extra gestures. Because the glass continues around the bend, the outside landscape becomes visible from several angles. The water and the planted surroundings are not distant backdrops. They are part of the daily view as soon as you move through the ground floor.

How the facade holds the house together

The elevations are composed with restraint. Openings are rectangular and set into a stable grid, and the dark window lines sharpen the reading of the glass against the brick and timber. The upper timber volume projects slightly and reads almost like a box laid over the lower base. That overhang gives the house a clear top and bottom, while the horizontal banding keeps the whole elevation calm and legible. It is a house that depends on proportion, not on excess detail.

Seen from different angles, the building shifts between solid and transparent surfaces. The masonry protects the lower zone, the timber softens the upper mass, and the glazing opens the corners where view matters most. The facade composition remains consistent, yet it is never flat. Reflections in the glass, the shadows under the overhanging volume, and the pale gaps between buildings all change how the house is read during the day. That gives the exterior its pace without disturbing the clarity of the design.

Light, views and daily use

For a family home, the benefit of large openings is practical as much as visual. The broad panes bring the garden close to the interior and allow the room layout to stay connected to the outside. Because the glazing wraps the corners, the eye can move from one side of the plot to another without a hard stop at the wall. That helps the house feel open to its setting while keeping its volume controlled and readable.

The relation to water is especially present in the way the corners are handled. Rather than presenting one main front, the house allows multiple lines of sight, so the outside is experienced in layers. The lower glazing reads almost like a continuous band at key points, while the timber above keeps the upper volume grounded. In that balance, the modern house with large glazing shows its real strength: a simple structure that uses the corner as a device for space, light and view.

Materials that stay visible in the details

The house gains much of its character from details that stay visible instead of being hidden. The brick base meets the ground with firmness, the timber boards add texture to the upper part, and the glass keeps the edge of the building open. Even the horizontal lines in the timber volume matter, because they reinforce the long, low reading of the house. Nothing is overly elaborate, but each surface has a clear task in the composition.

That clarity carries through the whole project. The modern house with large glazing uses its corner windows, masonry base and timber skin to make the outside readable from within, and the family house remains sized to its setting rather than dominating it. What stays with you is the way the ground-floor glazing turns outward, drawing in the garden and water through diagonal sight lines and giving the house a direct, measured relation to its surroundings.