In the Vogelwijk in The Hague, a so-called Dutch ‘Tuinwijk’, a dilapidated brick corner house from 1929 has been completely renovated and extended with a sitting pit.

The clients asked for more space, an open kitchen and a more direct relationship to the garden. During the design process, it became apparent that there was room enough to create a second space for sitting on the ground floor, if we were to extend the extension beyond the width of the house. We have created a place there where there is no television, where you can live on a different level and enjoy the outdoors. A sitting area sunk into the ground.

The sitting pit forms a playful space around the fireplace, where the owners are able to stay together with each other , friends and family. Seen at eye level from the seating pit, there is a vertically sliding window on the street side. By sliding this open (electrically) as well as the large sliding doors at the rear, you find yourself outside in a sitting pit, at a fireplace and under a roof. The low window also provides the opportunity for children to play around the seating area. Because the seating area lies free in the space next to the house, there is now, in addition to a direct relationship with the garden, also a direct relationship to the street, which provides a new dynamic for the use of the house.

The fireplace sits in a solid block that, together with a thick wall on the other side and a wall parallel to the seating pit, supports the roof. These three elements are made of concrete stucco. In this way, the old house and the new intervention are separate entities.

The large glass surfaces forms a sharp contrast with the brick house. In this contrast, the materialization of the eaves and ceiling of the extension seeks to connect with the existing situation. The Corten steel and the wooden slats give the design a warm atmosphere that matches the brown-red brick house.