Two thatched-roof villas were completed in 2023, each set up as a separate volume with its own rhythm of roofline, glazing and garden edge. The larger villa P1 leads the composition, while villa P2 follows with a smaller profile that still carries the same quiet precision. Together they read as a pair of rural houses shaped by dark masonry, tall windows and the soft sweep of thatch above the walls.

From the first view, the thatched-roof villa format is what anchors the project. The roof ridges draw a strong silhouette, but the material itself keeps the line from feeling hard. Beneath it, the dark brick façade gives the buildings weight, especially where the walls meet the ground and the window openings cut through the masonry. Large glass windows pull light deep into the facades and open the houses toward the garden instead of turning them inward.

Two villas, one visual language

Villa P1 is the more imposing of the two, with broader roof planes and a stronger presence in the landscape. Villa P2 sits beside it as a smaller counterpart, not reduced in detail but adjusted in scale. That difference is easy to read in the roof shape, the proportion of the openings and the way each volume meets the terrace and lawn. The project keeps both villas related without making them identical, which gives the site its pace.

The modern rural architecture here is not built from decoration. It comes from the relationship between the thatch, the dark brickwork and the long glazed sections. In several views, the windows are tall and vertical, almost like cuts in the wall rather than framed openings. That choice lets the facades hold their mass while still allowing long sightlines from the interior to the garden, the pond and the surrounding greenery.

Stone terraces and paths that pull the garden into the house

The landscaped garden with pathways is laid out with clear edges. Narrow routes run beside the house, across the lawn and toward the water, while planted borders break up the green surface without making it busy. A stone terrace sits close to the villa, giving the outside space a firm base against the softer textures of grass and planting. The surface is practical in the most visible sense: it gathers the main outdoor zone in front of the glazing and marks the transition to the garden.

Several of the images show how the house meets the garden at different levels. A terrace may sit flush with a window opening in one view, then step down toward a path or lawn in another. That movement matters. It keeps the project from becoming a static front lawn composition and instead lets the visitor read the site as a sequence of surfaces: stone, grass, water and planting. The route is simple, but it creates a clear connection between the villas and the landscape around them.

Dark brick, glass and the weight of the roof

The dark brick façade is most visible where sunlight lands on the wall and leaves the mortar lines slightly deeper in tone. It gives the houses a grounded base for the roof above. Large glass windows interrupt that mass and bring reflection into the composition, especially near the water. In combination with the thatched roofs, the walls keep the project from feeling too light or too polished. Instead, the buildings stay tied to the ground plane and to the garden structure around them.

There is also a clear geometric tension in the roof forms. The thatch is shaped into multiple planes, with visible ridges, chimneys and smaller roof breaks that give each villa a compact, worked outline. In the drone views, these roof shapes become part of the site pattern, sitting over lawns, paths and the pond like a set of connected pieces rather than one large mass. That makes the two villas read as a planned ensemble without losing their individual character.

A villa with garden pond at the edge of the terrace

The water feature is one of the most legible parts of the project. In several images, the villa with garden pond is seen from the terrace side, where reflective water lies close to the house and extends the view beyond the glass. The pond edge, with its stone border and planted banks, sharpens the contrast between hard and soft surfaces. It also changes how the facades are read: the windows now face not only the lawn but a band of water that catches the sky and the roofline.

Seen together, the pond, the terrace and the pathways set up a clear sequence for moving through the site. The garden does not disappear into background greenery; it stays structured. Low borders, clipped lawn sections and the water surface form a plan that can be read from above as well as from eye level. That is why the project feels precise in the images: every outside element has a visible place, from the stone underfoot to the reflections beside the house.

What the visitor sees in the image set

The exterior views focus first on the thatched-roof villa profile, then on the dark brick façades and the tall window rhythm. From there, the eye moves outward to the stone terrace, the landscaped garden with pathways and the pond that sits close to the building. In the wider shots, the roofs, chimneys and lawn patterns define the full site. In the closer views, the glazing, wall texture and terrace edge show how the villas open to the garden without losing their grounded form.

The project speaks through those visible layers: roof, wall, glass, terrace, path and water. Together they give the two villas their place in the landscape, with P1 and P2 each holding a distinct scale while staying part of the same composition. The result is a pair of houses that reads clearly in every image, whether the view comes from the lawn, the water’s edge or above the garden.

Photography: Edwin van Zandvoort
Architecture: DmarQ – Marc de Lang