At the bank of the IJmeer we had to design a villa for a writer. My writer was in fact a collumnist who chose for a lonely retreat after a tumultuous life. A vast open landscape with only windmills. I used the context not only to shape the villa but also the landscape. The geometry of the polder and the windmills have played an important roll in the design process. The villa is anchored in the landscape by two main axis. One is derived from the windmills, the other axis is a continuation of the route leading to the villa. The villa consists of three, scaleless, main volumes. The enclosed garden, the pool and the actual house as binding element. The plinth of basalt anchors the villa at the scale of the house, referring to the material of the dikes which surround the polder. The aluminium box has a industrial, civil enginered look, and contributes to the feeling of protection and at the same time the surrounding landscape is reflected. Parts of the facade can be opened. The writer is the director of his house, playing a continuous game of security and vulnerability with the brute landscape.
