Compact Recreation Home With A Flexible Interior

Completed in 2014, this structure replaced an existing garden house. The foundation was reused in the new project and the Zecc Architecten team also followed the contour of the old building when designing the new one.

Utrecht-recreation-home-overview

The house is located in a rural area north of Utrecht, Netherlands and serves as a recreation home. It has a compact design with a gable roof of stone slate, a chimney and wood cladding made of Western Red Cedar.

Utrecht-recreation-home-closed-shutters-overview

The design is simple but not lacking personality. The house is completely closed on one side with vertical slats while on the other side it opens onto the garden through removable window shutters with horizontal slats. The front facade is transparent and has a steel structure.

Utrecht-recreation-home-opening-shutters-overview
Utrecht-recreation-home-opening-shutters

The front section of the house contains the kitchen, the living room and the dining area. All three form an open floor plan and are organized along the wall with pivoting shutters. The areas can also be separated with sliding panels whenever desired.

Utrecht-recreation-home-transparent-front-facade
Utrecht-recreation-home-dining-area

The sleeping area is situated at the rear of the house, where it gets plenty of privacy and where the atmosphere is intimate and comfortable. But it too offers beautiful views of the surrounding landscape as the shutters open. This is also the only source of natural light for the room.

Utrecht-recreation-home-bedroom-connection

A sliding panel can separate the sleeping area from the rest of the interior spaces when privacy is desired but the spaces can also be combined to create a more airy and spacious feel throughout.

Utrecht-recreation-home-bedroom

Along the closed facade interior designer Roel van Norel created an oak wall unit where all the essential facilities are integrated. It’s where the kitchen basics, the wood stove, the toilet, the shower, the sink and a few cabinets are located.

Utrecht-recreation-home-bedroom-and-bathroom

The front facade is completely open to the exterior, letting in the much needed natural light. The kitchen and the dining area benefit the most from this feature.

Utrecht-recreation-home-kitchen

Even though the house is compact, being built of wood and with such a smart organization of the interior spaces, it serves as a really great recreation home. It combines a lot of practical and ingenious elements into a simple and user-friendly design. In additional to that, the views are really great here.

Utrecht-recreation-home-side-view
Utrecht-recreation-home-side-vire