Villa Fifty-Fifty

Studioninedots’ Villa Fifty-Fifty is half house-half garden, in one dwelling

On the transition from Strijp-R to the adjacent estate, Studioninedots designed this family house as a pavilion in which open and closed volumes are constantly alternated and thus as much living outside as inside: a new typology for maximum interaction.

Fifty-fifty
With the design for Villa Fifty-Fifty, Studioninedots took the typology of a transparent house one step further. The clients, for whom they also designed their first home, returned with a hankering for a more minimalist lifestyle and a desire for optimal nature experiences. Studioninedots explored a rather radical translation of equal appreciation of inside and outside. In their quest to maximize interaction, they defined the separate residential and outdoor functions, rejected their obvious positions, only to reposition them, but with full equality. The lot was built to its boundaries; the building plane was considered a checkerboard pattern on which all functions were given their own volume. The volumes vary; they are closed or open, covered or not and with their own atmosphere and materialization. This has created a patchwork of special relationships between the building and the landscape, between open and closed and between inside and outside.

The result is a home with alternating indoor and outdoor space in which, moreover, the boundary in use between the two is blurred. Half house-half garden within one volume. Fifty-fifty.

Pavilion meets tiny house
The house shows itself as a pavilion, stretched out over the garden, with loose volumes cased between two horizontal planes. The tower protrudes right through the floor and roof. On the first floor are the functions for the whole family and those for parents. The girls have their rooms, plus facilities for independent living, in their tiny house in the tower. The entrance is located where the pavilion and the tower intersect. The volumes are interconnected and differ from one another in terms of atmosphere and light; the spatial transitions reinforce the continuous living landscape.

Natural industrial
A number of unconventional material choices were made for the villa. Glass naturally predominates there to blur the boundaries between inside and outside. It allows for vistas and reflects ever-changing greenery and interiors. Four closed volumes are clad in unusually applied materials of natural origin. The bathroom is lined with flagstones; glazed bathroom tiles cover the walls in bedroom and office. The round shed is made of semi-transparent corrugated sheet metal. Polished aluminum covers the entire tower; it acts almost like camouflage by reflecting the surrounding greenery, the weather and the changing of the seasons.

In addition, custom application of industrial elements gives them a villa-like appearance. With its open layout, the villa is strongly linked to the adjacent wooded estate, and the industrial past of Strijp-R also echoes subtly in the design.

“You are not inside or outside, you move from inside to outside, to go back inside and come out somewhere outside.” – Jurjen van der Horst, Studioninedots

Project information Villa Fifty-Fifty
Design: Studioninedots
Client: Private
GLA: 240 m2
Location: Strijp-R, Eindhoven, NL
Design delivery: 2018 – 2020
Design team: Albert Herder, Vincent van der Klei, Arie van der Neut, Metin van Zijl
Project architects: Metin van Zijl, Jurjen van der Horst
Design team: Leire Baraja Rodriquez, Ruben Visser, Laura Berasaluce
Contractor: Buytels Construction Company
Constructions:BroadID
Photography: Frans Parthesius