C House

urgerdam, The Netherlands

2018

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A dwelling of meditative routing and cocooning

Being a house on a dike between the two worlds of landscape and seascape immediately lends the dwelling a special character. Upon visiting the site, one cannot miss the reflection of light on water, the breeze and the smells of the farms. Those qualities immediately offer a state of peacefulness and serenity that encourages contemplation and….I immediately started dreaming of building a house that would offer a continuation of such an immense contextual experience. In my mind’s eye, I envisioned a delicate way of living between open light corridors where the space can flow to the outside as much as invite it in, and a cocooning dark core where you can retreat, rest and relax. It is like taking meditative walks around a shrine that you ultimately get inside of.

A light screen of wooden louvers, that read as a series of vertical slats, envelopes the entire core of the house. The louvers with their fine-tuning quality of opening and shutting tempts you to look in-between the slats and engages you in a daydreaming state of window gazing. Maybe a state of contemplation about the polder, the dike and living below sea-level.