"Minimalism is not about reduction, only leaving out things. It is on contrary about the synthesis of many functional and aesthetic aspects of the design."
In our new Minimal Story, renowned architect Dirk Jan Postel explains how he brought this beautiful residence in the heart of nature to life. For him, minimal windows® and the seamless integration of the distinctive Dutch landscape into the interior played a pivotal role.
Dirk Jan Postel is responsible for numerous impressive projects realized over his 30-year career as a senior partner at Kraaijvanger Architects. Thank you very much for this inspiring interview.
We would also like to extend our gratitude to our valued partner Antoine van Dooren of Kumasol, who brought this project to life.
Well, the house is a house for a family of four.
And minimalism is the key here,
so that you have a connection of the house with nature.
My name is Dirk-Jan Postel.
I am an architect from Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
And right now we're in the house I've designed
close to the city of Hilversum.
On a beautiful spot, basically, that is what attracted us.
This very Dutch landscape of water and land
and close to a Natura 2000 area.
Well, of course, everything in this design
was concentrated around the beautiful site.
And we decided to build parallel to this slice of land,
which is so typical for this environment.
And to keep the privacy of the house,
we have basically two facades that are more or less closed
and two others that open up towards nature.
And opening up really is opening up.
The main aim I have, almost always,
but certainly on a beautiful site like this,
is to extend space and avoid barriers.
And extending the space means, in this case,
the continuation of the ceiling and the continuation of the floor,
basically of the mass.
And in between, you want to have as little as possible,
which, in this case, is minimal windows.
Yeah, the design of minimal windows in this system
is basically not very difficult
because you have the upper and the lower detail and that's it.
The only thing that took us a little more than a while to detail
was the continuation of the kitchen from inside to outside.
And then the panel runs visually into this kitchen.
This juxtaposition is always a question.
You know, how you do it, how you make it, how you clean it, etc.
So in my architecture, I always try to use a limited number of materials
only, which, in this case, is the black cladding.
Black because it makes the building not too dominant on the side,
it mingles with nature.
Of course, the glass, the ceiling and the floor.
Minimalism is not about reduction only, leaving out things.
It is, on the contrary, about the synthesis
of many functional and aesthetic aspects of the design.
So it's much more difficult than you think
to eventually achieve simplicity.
It's a lot of work.
But what you get back, and there, minimal windows helps a lot,
is this connection between inside and outside
and the connection with the house and its environment.
Basically, also a sense of space, an enhanced sense of space,
which I like a lot.
I always aim for a space where you briefly hold your breath.
That is the emotion,
which Louis Kahn describes so well as the sense of silence, rest.
I think that is crucial to the experience of space.
And it's a sense of belonging.
You know where you are, but you know there is more to it.
You feel there might be space around the corner.
You get a glimpse, but you don't get everything.
And here we have this corridor which continues throughout the house
and ends up in the main space.
And then it gives, already at the entrance, the connection with nature,
but it opens up while you're in the space.
And then I think people will hold their breath when they're here.
