Villa KaRos

The Gezichtslaan in the village of Doorn leads to the gardens of the dwelling where Kaiser Wilhelm spent his final days.

Along this beautiful tree-lined lane lies a forested lot where a villa was to be realised. Our client acquired this lot, and commissioned us to design a modern villa for it. A real challenge, because in Doorn traditional building is favorite.

The design is based on 3 intersecting masses. The first floor is designed as a copper box as to lighten the totall mass, mostly because flat building designs tend to appear very heavy.

For this reason, a narrow mass along the copper mass is applied, for extra verticality. Additionally, a horizontal mass is added, ending on an indoor terrace at the south side of the villa.

Naturally, the villa is designed as a passive house, without a gas grid connection, but with simple but effective technology to endure cold and hot seasons energy-efficiently. The rest of the year, ventilation can be achieved by simply setting windows ajar. In The Netherlands, this option is usually only available when requested as a custom made solution.