Two Houses in Van der Venne Park

Alvaro Siza Vieira- Two Houses in Van der Venne Park, Hague, Van der Vennestraat, L’Aia Netherlands, 1988

Project: Alvaro Siza and Carlos Castanheira in collaboration with Architektengroep Mecanoo
Project: autumn 1985 / Realization: spring 1988

The project includes two dwellings, two business facilities and an entrance to the car park (the garage itself, like the other entrances and the slope, was not designed by Siza, but coordinated with him, in view of the connection with his project and the furnishings of the park.
In the middle below the ground level the two shops and the garage entrance are located on a gallery. One of the shops and the garage entrance are carrying daylight screws up to the bottom of the garage. In the shops there is a plateau with two houses and a roof garden. The brick house ("the iron" is more closed to the outside, but has a surprisingly high and bright room, while the white house is open towards the side of the Van der Vennestraat and has a horizontal organization.

The entire project, the building and the park were designed by Siza together with the building in close relationship with the environment. On the one hand, considering the existing buildings through adaptation and scale in measures and directions, on the other the positioning and connection of a new quality: the park. The design of the building and the park are inseparable from each other.

In the same critical way, the houses are coordinated with each other: while one is white, smooth and modern, the other is brick and more closed, the closed house has white elements and vice versa. While both houses are located in the stone park, they have a roof garden near the park's green and even the applied materials, brick and natural stone, can be found again in the park.

Siza's critical method leads to an exciting and delicate balance of opposing elements. These differences are carefully calibrated with accurate answers down to the last detail.