Villa Isola Bella

STRK has renovated a monumental villa from around 1900, called Isola Bella. The villa is located on one of the most beautiful and oldest avenues in Nuenen. The original building consisted of the villa and an extension from 1960. The clients’ intention was to modernize the existing extension, but STRK proposed to demolish the extension and replace it with a contemporary volume.

With the architecture of the extension, an attempt was made at the time to connect with the monumental building, but this was not done very cleanly and unambiguously, as a result of which the entire ensemble lost its appearance and allure. The new, contemporary volume has become optically free from the monumental villa through sophisticated detailing and materials. This has restored the character of the monumental Villa.

The new extension meets all modern comfort requirements and consists of a parking basement (with ramp), a wine cellar and the technical room for the swimming pool. The kitchen, an office, a guest house and the utility room are situated on the ground floor. STRK has designed a covered terrace with a gas fireplace adjacent to the kitchen.

The villa itself has been completely renovated with new bathrooms, bedrooms, walk-in closets and in the attic a private museum for a Tintin collection. Inside, the old and new buildings merge seamlessly. They reinforce each other’s qualities. The sightlines of the existing villa have been extended to the new extension, and even taken over in the garden.

STRK has fully directed the Isola Bella project in collaboration with many renowned parties. The garden is designed by Stoop Tuinen, the kitchen is provided by Culimaat, the fireplaces are designed by Boley and the swimming pool is by Compass Pools.