A pair of gabled volumes conceal the expansive timber-lined interiors of Light House, a home in the Netherlands designed by local studio Woonpioniers.
Located in the village of Nigtevecht in Utrecht, the home is tucked within a row of homes on a sloping, narrow plot close to a river.
Aiming to maximise this challenging site, Amsterdam-based Woonpioniers designed the home as two gabled volumes that slot together “like puzzle pieces”, with stepped floor levels and mezzanines that create deceptively expansive and high-ceilinged interiors.
Woonpioniers has completed Light House in Utrecht
“By leaning into the restrictions, we – together with the clients – co-created a house that feels larger than its square footage,” the studio told Dezeen.
“The house hides a radical, vapour-permeable, multi-level timber interior behind a facade that respects the characteristic streets of a historic Dutch village, a sort of ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ strategy – modernity tucked inside tradition,” it added.
The ground floor of Light House has been largely given over to a kitchen, playroom and living room.
The home is contained within a pair of gabled volumes
Each of these ground-floor spaces was designed to flow into the next with the floor level stepping upwards, culminating in a fully-glazed gable end in the living room.
To the east, a more compartmentalised area houses an office, utility room and bathroom.
The kitchen, playroom and living room are on the ground floor
A stair leads up to the first-floor bedrooms and bathrooms, which hang above the open living area below and are connected by a small steel-and-timber bridge.
Above, an angular skylight splits open the apex of the home’s roof, drawing light down between the bedroom volumes and into the living spaces. It is complemented by additional skylights in the sloping ceilings.
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“Fluidity and openness to the exterior of the spaces where you are to be together were our main aims in the design,” said the studio.
“The main living space, the kitchen and the playroom for the kids are placed on separate floor levels, which have an open relation to each other and which all feel like the outside came in for a bit.”
Steps lead up to a raised living room
“The living room sits just a touch higher, creating a cosy, sheltered atmosphere without losing its connection to the rest,” Woonpioniers added.
This feeling of lightness is enhanced by Light House’s material finishes, with pine planks used to line the walls and ceilings in areas with a connection to the outdoors and pale gypsum plaster in the more intimate internal spaces.
An angular skylight draws light into the home
Previous projects by Woonpioniers include a home in Olst, which was designed using as many bio-based materials as possible, and a prefabricated wooden cabin with large windows and tall curving interiors.
The photography is courtesy of Woonpioniers.