Terphouse is a green Rotterdam house

(Image credit: Sebastian van Damme)

published 5 March 2023

Located within a system of dikes and small islands, this Rotterdam house appears serene and idyllic; yet it was designed to withstand harsh weather conditions and works cleverly and hard towards a sustainable architecture result. The brainchild of local architecture practice Studio AAAN, Terphouse, as the project was titled, balances contemporary architecture and environmental friendliness, set upon a low mound engulfed in low greenery and flowers.

A modern Rotterdam house: Terphouse

Terphouse is situated in the suburbs of the city of Rotterdam, within an environment that brings together nature and constructed context – both in terms of buildings and humanmade landscape. ‘The house is dug in the artificial mound on the island, situating the living spaces on the first level and the bedrooms and secondary rooms underground. This means that from the living spaces the open landscape is perceived over the dikes. By folding the landscape around the house, a connection with the garden is made possible and the house is perceived as a modest solid in the landscape,' the architects write.

rotterdam house exterior corner out of stone and wood

While its setting heavily informed its overall design, the architects took care to ensure Terphouse looks suitably modern too, featuring low, clean volumes made of brick walls, large expanses of glazing and a distinctive, flat timber roof. A range of patios, both external and internal, dot the arrangement, offering open spaces and connections to the outdoors at every turn.

greenery outside stone wall of rotterdam house

The wooden roof and its low slung, linear nature was definitive in the design's overall impression. The architecture team, headed by studio founders Hilbrand Wanders, Luuk Stoltenborg and Rik de Ruiter, explain: 'The pronounced wooden beam structure is continuous from the interior to the exterior and forms a canopy on the south façade. As a result, the boundary between the living room, veranda, outdoor rooms and the patio becomes indistinct and the landscape flows into the house.'

transparencies and open plan inside modern rotterdam house

rotterdam house looking out through glazing

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Netherlands

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).