MVRDV: Casa Kwantes

Casa Kwantes bases itself around the clients’ desire for seclusion and privacy, whilst having a maximum of daylight and open living spaces. From the road, the bare brick wall offers only a partial glimpse into the property and family life through an opening of the white brickwork facade – a subtle indented entrance leading into an initially dark and enclosed entrance hall. In contrast, the reverse of the property completely opens up to the south with curved windows following the entire winding facade wrapped around a central olive tree.

  In entering through a curved indent in an otherwise flat and mysterious facade with Celosia brickwork detail, visitors are led into the entrance hall. Stepping into the property, it suddenly opens into the well-lit living spaces of its curved and fluid interior. This continuous wall also serves as an entrance to the garage and staircase.

The living room and library take up the rest of the space, wrapped around a curvaceous and carved out courtyard that frames the focal point of the house, the tree. The flooring from inside continues outside and essentially turns the courtyard into an extension of the house i.e. as an exterior room. There is a small basement for extra storage, and in addition, a sun trap patio at the bottom of the garden which provides an extra paved barbecue space for Dutch summer days.

Casa Kwantes, Rotterdam
Program: single family house
Architect: MVRDV
Design team: Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries, Frans de Witte, Herman Gaarman, Arjen Ketting and Brygida Zawadzka
Engineer: IMd
Installations: Techniplan
Contractor: Villabouw Mattone
Facade: IFS Building System
Interiors: DK Projects
Area: 480 sqm
Completion: 2016