On the site of a former slaughterhouse in the historical heart of the Dutch university city of Leiden, emerges one of the biggest urban developments of private dwellings in the Netherlands. In their series of eleven, Rotterdam based architects Pasel Künzel Architects present yet another spectacular house giving a new interpretation of the classical Dutch housing typology.
With their V12K0102 residence the architects created a project on an almost triangular building plot, the remnant of an inner city housing block. On a 30 metre long one-storey high base, two building volumes were placed on opposite side, one being the ‘children’s house’ and the other serving as the ‘house of the parents’. The two parts facing each other allow for visible eye contact, but are furthermore physically separated.
Collective spaces for living, dining and playing are situated on the ground floor, meandering around two intimate courtyards and establishing an immediate relation between ‘life inside and outside’ – an oasis in the city.
Towards the city, the introvert house reveals his inner life by only two gigantic glass panes that also permit the characteristic Dutch light to reach deep into the museum like spaces.
