Townhouse at The Hague

A traditional 1920s town house offers an attractive residence in a charming and imposing neighbourhood in The Hague, but is very out-dated. cepezed designs a striking and radical modernization.
The house is located at the end of a closed building block, opposite the Oostduin-Arendsdorp estate. Because the property falls within a protected townscape, cepezed left the frontage unaltered. Internally and at the rear, however, the bureau carried out a number of powerful interventions. The property has the structure of a classic Dutch terraced house, with one broad and one narrow bay.

While retaining the last remaining original details such as the entrance porch and ornamental plaster ceilings, this lay-out on the ground floor has been completely broken through. The former corridor and kitchen have been pulled into the living area to create a single large loft-like space. Here, along the wall, an elongated cleanly designed organizer element has been placed, which includes the kitchen, open fireplace and television. The existing doors have been reused to create a built-in storage unit on the other side of the room. The newly created living space has been provided with a cast floor over the entire surface. The rear elevation of the property has been opened up, in both senses of the word, and replaced with a glass front complete with a pivoted door an incredible two metres wide and six-and-ahalf metres high. The former outside space of the balcony on the first floor has been added to the house, creating a void as high as the pivoted door. On the first floor, this is adjoined by a study with a wooden floor, a glass balustrade and long sight lines over the enclosed gardens at the back. The previously obliquely receding second floor at the rear has been extended, set back from the façade, and provided with a roof terrace. Generous use has been made of materials such as Corian and translucent glass for the modernization of the sanitary fittings.

cepezed