Strekken IV

A semi-detached house has more façades to choose from than a terraced house. The broadest façade is on the side, so that’s where everything happens. Nicely centered and decoratively framed is the front door. A little further down the garage door. And in between, a romantic garden gate.
One façade needs the most work. The one facing the garden. Everything behind it is outdated, and there’s another inconvenience: to reach the garage, you have to go outside.

A shallow extension forms a bridge. A roof like a bridge, spanning the kitchen, the terrace, the garage and the garden door. The roof doesn’t concern itself too much with what’s beneath it. It’s the same throughout. Sometimes inside, sometimes outside. It shoots past the garden wall to announce itself as a canopy. The façade does the same, opportunistically. It bends to the context without minding the roof: tall where it needs to be, low where it doesn’t. A free-flowing dance in contrast to the roof’s restraint.

In this open field stands the kitchen with its island. The island anchors the space; a graceful pivot around which family life moves. The finishes match the boldness of the concept: exposed wood, pink tiles, hefty beams with a recessed roof edge. Windows where the opening parts are finished differently from the fixed ones. Some open from unexpected angles.
Someone knocks on the back door. The coffee is brewing.