The Dutch countryside has some drastic changes ahead of it. This project for a moor polder in Hoeksche Waard, south of Rotterdam, looks at the role that country estates might play in areas where agriculture is on the way out. From research into the 'country estate' phenomenon and the present rural situation a formula has been distilled regarding the conditions a present-day country estate should satisfy. This formula is five-pronged and intervenes at different scales.

COUNTRY ESTATE = E + D + B + N + S
E= Large-scale landscape-structuring element
D= Domain
B= Buildings
N= Vision of nature
S= Homo ludens

E - Series of country estates are inserted in those areas where agriculture will disappear. By organizing them along elements of an even larger scale, such as rivers, roads and gradients, the macro scale will continue to impact in the future. The unbuilt zones present a system of vistas which intervene where the road network in the polder attaches to the surrounding dike.

D & B - Buildings and built development are most influential on a country estate's physical appearance. To prevent them from shouting down everything else, the scheme sets limits to the frontage and floor surface areas. One lot has been fleshed out into a design for a country estate.

N - The vision of nature permits building at places that are regarded as nature reserves; nature's own form-making is a second departure-point. The vistas define the division of the territory, the design of water features according well with the crisp lines of the blocks of woodland and the hedges.

S - Introducing Johan Huizinga's 'Homo Ludens' breathes new life into the notion of a country estate. This 'man of play' is given shape in the design by harking back to the collective aspects of the burgher city with its up-front interweaving of communal and private.

The design is a take on the villa of villas: Palladio's La Rotonda. It transforms the Rotonda's plan by adding the time factor. Each storey combines two apartments with a shared portion. The shared spaces together presence as a spiral within the cylindrical building, at the centre of which is a screw lift. Lower in the spiral the programme is geared to physical activities (swimming and fitness), up above the emphasis is more on mental relaxation and training (a studio and library). On the roof, where you might expect an unhampered view, is a sauna garden designed as a hortus conclusus (enclosed garden).

Place of education: TU Delft
Specialization: architectuur/architecture
Tutors: Carel Weeber, Jan van der Woord & Eric van der Kooy