Firm： NIO architecten

Type： Commercial › Office Residential › Private House

YEAR： 2005

SIZE： 1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET： $100K - 500K

The grass and marshland of the Botshol is a nature reserve and a unique habitat for unusual plants (wild orchids, rare marsh plants, cotton grass, holly-leaved naiad, stonewort, bog spurge) and birds (the buzzard, the harrier, the cormorant, the bittern, the red-crested pochard, the spoonbill). It is situated - a bit hidden - as an oasis in the midst of the Randstad. It is obvious that in the Botshol cannot be built, but also in the surrounding area of De Ronde Venen there are restrictions to new housing development or partial renewal of existing farms. This is why a lot stays the same. It is the art to create something here that answers the current wishes and demands of the inhabitants and at the same time fits the new plans with nature (the direct surroundings of the Botshol have been designated in 2000 as nature development area, as a consequence, the agricultural function slowly disappears to make room for wet marsh nature).

Precisely where the austere lay-out of the peat grass area touches the new nature and the whimsical landscape of the Botshol, is a garden of which the inner world does not reveal itself. Just like the Botshol, the inside of the garden is hidden and it shows, equally sovereign, only its green edges to the outside world. Almost invisible from outside are two buildings, a farm and an annex, both ready for renewal. In line with the heart of the garden, which has been cultivated and even seems a little heavenly, the renewal was used to intensify the unexpected atmosphere of this location.

The basis of the design are two distinct zinc roofs under which different spaces are given a place in a very relaxed manner. One part is now ready: the annex has been transformed into a pavilion. The zinc roof is cheekily placed diagonally over the square wooden building. The struts of the roof fan out, as if they are trying to imitate the pattern of the nearby Vinkeveense plassen, and the dark stained wooden duckboards are lifted compared to ground level, so that the building seems to float above the garden. The image of the pavilion is new and possibly unexpected, but eventually it is equally natural and graceful as a cormorant in the Botshol.