This all timber, small footprint, modular home connect its owners to nature

This all timber, small footprint, modular home called Buitenhuis was designed by VLOT Architects to connect it’s owners to their garden and the adjacent farmland. Despite the home only having a footprint of 54m2, it has been designed to be completely opened up so the deck becomes part of the floor space, increasing the home to 210m2. Also helping to extend the boundaries of the home is the glazed facade, which blurs the lines between indoors and out.

Rather than chop down existing trees, the deck was designed to enclose them into timber garden beds which further strengthens the connection between the home and the landscape.

Minimising the C02 impact of the home was also important in this project so timber has been used as the main construction material using both larch and CLT and was built using dry connections. This means the house can be fully disassembled if required. Timber has also been used for the larch window frames, larch facade cladding, wood fibre insulation, birch flooring and ceiling panels and padauk decking.

A modular grid of 1.5 metres squared allowed for the home to be built off site and then assembled as a kit of parts on site. Building Information Modelling (BIM) was used in the design allowing for the house to be modelled in 3D. This provided the opportunity to solve all problems and questions in the design phase, resulting in virtually no construction waste.

BIM can be used to help build more sustainable buildings as it can produce data which helps reduce waste, cost effective building methods can be tested, problems are detected during design phase and not on site which saves materials time and cost, plus it helps to coordinate the project from design through to construction which contributes to accurate ordering of materials, equipment and potential rework.

Related project: Check out another all timber home called 100% Wooden House

Sustainability specs:
– The home’s structure is made from larch and cross laminated timber (CLT)
– Modular home, made up of six prefabricated elements
– Prefabrication allowed for the home to be built off site, drastically reducing construction waste on site
– All timber home. Timber is used almost exclusively – Larch and CLT construction, larch window frames, larch facade cladding, wood fibre insulation, birch flooring and ceiling panels, padauk decking
– Moss/sedum covered roof
– All electric home – electric underfloor heating, boilers and cooking appliances
– Overhanging eaves provide shading from the summer sun but allow the home to be warmed by the lower winter sun
– Small footprint
– Warm air can rise up into the raised roof section and be flushed out of the house
– The house can be completely opened up for cross flow ventilation
– All timber modular home

The house is fully designed in BIM. The existing swimming pool has been measured in the works, these physical coordinates have been used as a digital starting point. The 3D models of the steel foundation and wooden main supporting structure have been digitally loaded, optimized and exchanged several times.

The client himself acted as the main contractor and brought together the right subcontractors. As an architect, we fulfilled the role of work planner and used the BIM model to order all required products. By figuring everything out in advance, there was virtually no waste on the construction site.

The modular design makes it possible to prefabricate a lot and to assemble the whole as a kit on location. This applies to the main supporting structure, all decking elements, ceiling elements and floor parts. These were made in advance in a conditioned hall and then placed in the work.