HOUSE W BY STUDIO PROTOTYPE

A Dutch house with two faces

Architecture can get really tricky when it comes to renovations or adding extensions to existing buildings. That was precisely the task of Dutch architecture firm Studio Prototype for the House W in Duiven, the Netherlands. The owners asked the architects to add a whole new and modern-looking volume to the existing parts of an old family house. The main challenge was then to create harmony between what would be two very different styles.

As a contemporary response to the existing house, Studio Prototype decided to keep the same shape for both volumes, but also to slightly shift the extension from the original house, as if to assume the complete reinterpretation that is taking place. Indeed, if the original shape has been preserved, the House W’s new part couldn’t be more different from the old house. It’s playful, light and strikingly modern.

While the original brick house conveys a sensation of stability and strength, the extension plays with space and lightness. It has been organized around a spacious void to enhance natural light. The L-shaped veranda overlooks this space and gives it direction and balance in a wonderful way. The chimney has also been reinterpreted and now becomes a skylight.

Outside, even the timber cladding of the facade has been modernized. Red cedar battens cross the facade with diagonals, underlining the volume taken away in the shape and the space created at the entrance of the modern extension. It accomplishes a stunning contrast with the bricks of the original volume. Yet harmony is found thanks to aluminum profiles that link the two volumes.