Version four

Version four

NAARDEN (NL) - A 1967 bungalow attractively located in one of the old suburbs of Amsterdam had already been renovated and extended twice before, in 1972 and 2001. Now the house has been altered again by Dick van Gameren, hence the decision to call it Villa 4.0. This time the transformation was so thoroughgoing that, apart from the curious ground plan made up of hexagons, there is hardly any reminder of the original brown brick house. What was previously a haphazard collection of rooms and recesses is now largely open, and furnished in a high-end spartan style to a design by IDing. Light and spacious rooms are arranged on either side of a long, continuous space, an abstract, contemporary version of the hall of a 19th-century English country house – a not unusual reference for the Anglophile Van Gameren. Large windows in the roof ensure that this space is flooded with light. The same applies to the kitchen, which has an openable skylight above the dining table.

External walls are minimal, since the elevations consist mainly of large, uninterrupted expanses of glazing, produced by Rollecate. Thanks to the great transparency, the openness of the interior and the lightness of the spaces, the house appears to dissolve, and has become part of the garden (designed by Michael van Gessel) and the surrounding landscape. (Hans Ibelings)