Located on the beautiful Dutch island of Texel, Holiday Home is unlike any other residential villa. Instead of dividing the house into different spaces by walls, Orange Architects decided to divide spaces according to the specific use at any moment in time. Escaping from routine is quite literally built-in.
Holiday Home represents a different approach to space. By day, during a holiday, people tend to spend more time together and there’s less need for private spaces. With this in mind Rotterdam based firm Orange Architects optimized the house by maximizing all spaces inside, allowing most of them to accommodate two functions. By day the house transforms into an open, fluid space. Spaces extend even further, through large windows and opened doors, into the surroundings. By night, wooden panels in the hall can be closed by turning them 90 degrees and the continuous space breaks up into separate spaces. The bed becomes a full-size bedroom, while the hidden shower and sink turn into an en-suite bathroom. By allowing the interior to be transformed, the space inside is optimized, keeping it compact and efficient, avoiding unused rooms during the daytime.
image © Sebastian van Damme
Holiday Home evokes a very spacious feeling within a relatively compact volume. Skylights in the bedroom, library and attic area; window frames as high as five meters to the garden; light colored birch interior paneling and movable lamellas all enhance the rudimentary feeling of well-proportioned spaces, poetic lighting and essential materialization. The project was designed using multiple sustainable solutions: almost invisible solar panels on the roof, natural ventilation, timber structure and concrete floor that acts as a thermal mass, a highly insulated roof, facades and windows. And it’s all- electric; for cooking, warm water and heating, no fossil fuels are needed.
The weather definitely won’t destroy your holiday mood, since the house can be enjoyed in different weather conditions. The lamellas on the terrace can be adjusted if it’s windy, the veranda is to be enjoyed when it’s too sunny, raindrops hitting the roof lights put on a real show and on a clear night the stars do the same.
image © Sebastian van Damme
The contractor, whose company is located on the mainland, prefabricated the walls and roof of the building in his workshop. Because of its irregular shape, the structure was first fully assembled in his workshop. After the structure was fitted and finished, it was dismantled and transported to the island, where it was reassembled on-site within a very short time frame. Then, the very distinct finishing of the interior could start, within the protective shell of the prefabricated structure.
With only a ten-minute walk from the North Sea, Holiday Home provides a cozy but distinctive stay. The solid yet sculptural interior, which is covered by the black wooden shell, creates a strong contrast between the warm inside and the bold outside.
