This private residence for a family, completed in June 2009, is situated in a lush, leafy neighborhood in Bussum, a small town near Amsterdam. The neighborhood is known for its 19th century villas, designed in a vast array of revivalist styles. The design for the 3,014 square foot (280 square meters) villa by GROUP A is modern and sculptural and interacts in a natural way with its surroundings. By using slanting walls and roofs the abstract building volume plays by contrast with the neighborhoods monumental, sometimes even frivolous 19th century villas. At the same time, the villa’s sculptural character ensures that it feels comfortably embedded in the landscape. Thus, the villa’s design enhances its integration with both context and community, yet outstanding by its singular language.

The villa’s building type evolved from a simple rectangular volume with a rotated pitched roof. Subsequently, segments were cut from this volume in order to create windows, terraces, balconies and entrances. A cut-out corner facing the street in front of the house clearly indicates the main entrance, while on the eastern side of the villa; a secluded garden and a second entrance offer a more private side. A comfortable porch and a 15 meter wide panorama window face the garden at the back of the house, and double up as a transition between the villa and the garden.

Both gardens in front and at the back of the house are linked to each other by a sloping path. This descending path lowers itself underneath the cantilevering block, thereby providing garden access for the basement floor, and a comfortable covered parking spot. The client asked for a villa with a modern feel, a garden with a high degree of privacy and the possibility of sheltered parking. By designing a cantilevering villa, positioned between the street and the private zone of the plot, all three of these demands were addressed. The design includes the answers to the demands, and integrates them through simple operations into a sculpted, modern and clear volume.

Photos: Scagliola / Brakkee