Ferskûle

On one of the most beautiful places of a small holiday park on the most eastern inhabited Dutch Wadden island of Schiermonnikoog an existing holiday home with the Frisian name 'Ferskûle' has been replaced for a new, delicately designed retreat. The Frisian 'Ferskûle' which means 'hidden' has been leading in the design process. We have expressed this by creating a multitude of places where you can nestle yourself, lie down and muse or gaze outside, find new perspectives or total relaxation.

A shifted window in which you can lie down, a living kitchen with a central cooking table in the heart, the sunken sitting room with wood fireplace and lowered perspective on the surroundings, study with a panoramic view as from a birdwatcher's hut, bedrooms with a view of the starry sky, a recessed alcove in the outer facade as a kind of wicker beach chair and an intimate outdoor seating pit sunken in the basement of the house.

We have chosen to keep the usually underground foundation of the house visible. A sturdy basement on which the house stands and in which spaces are also sunk. This ensures that the house is anchored on the island and, together with the masonry, protects the light timber-frame structure.

The materials chosen, their texture and tactility are inspired by the materiality of the island and the feeling of the Wadden Sea. Consistently implemented from the weighty basement and the yellow brick with diagonal joint brushing to the soft gray floor finishes and the strongly dampened acoustic indoor climate. The exterior is characterized by stone-like solid materials. In the interior, materials with a velvety touch surface, wooden walls and ceilings, woven fabrics with natural tones and a combination of indirect and limited but very precisely chosen warm light have been chosen.