Architects: Derksen|Windt Architecten
Year: 2025
Photography: Jordi Huisman
Materials: Brick
Location: Glinster, Maassluis
Country: The Netherlands
Family House in Maassluis, designed by Derksen|Windt Architecten and completed in 2025, is a detached residence in the Wilgenrijk development in Maassluis, Netherlands. The project reinterprets a conventional house form through an architectural approach centered on sightlines, natural light, and the relationship between interior and exterior spaces. Situated on a waterfront plot, the residence was repositioned on the site to create a larger southwest-facing garden and strengthen its connection to the surroundings. The arrangement of projecting and recessed volumes shapes the building’s appearance, while carefully positioned openings establish changing views and daylight conditions throughout the interior. Interconnected living areas and open upper-floor circulation spaces contribute to a continuous spatial experience. Brick serves as both the primary facade material and a dimensional reference, establishing a 38-centimeter module that informs the building’s proportions and detailing. The design also incorporates passive solar strategies, using overhangs to limit summer heat gain while admitting sunlight during cooler seasons. An integrated solar-panel roof, ground-source heat exchanger, and well-insulated building envelope complement these measures, bringing environmental considerations into the architectural design of the family home.
Family House in Maassluis demonstrates how a consistent masonry dimension can organize an architectural composition characterized by shifts in volume, height, and facade depth. Derksen|Windt Architecten developed the residence around the dimensions of its brickwork, establishing a 38-centimeter module derived from the brick and mortar joint. This measurement informs the horizontal divisions between floors, the offsets of projecting and recessed sections, and the vertical proportions of a corner column. The brick is laid in a standing klezoor bond, a relatively uncommon masonry pattern that gives the individual facade surfaces a restrained and uniform appearance.
The residence occupies a privately commissioned waterfront plot in Wilgenrijk, a large residential development in Maassluis where parcels are periodically allocated to individual homeowners. The architects adjusted the building’s position relative to the specifications in the plot development guidelines, creating additional garden space toward the southwest. This decision provided greater opportunities to organize the house around sunlight and views, priorities shared by the clients and architects from the beginning of the design process.
The experience of moving through the residence informed its spatial arrangement. From the approach, the entrance facade appears comparatively enclosed, with projecting and recessed elements arranged at varying heights to create a welcoming composition. Beyond the entrance, the interior opens into interconnected spaces that allow occupants to move naturally between different zones. Rather than dividing the upper floors entirely into individual rooms, the architects retained open, daylit areas onto which the rooms connect, maintaining views of the surroundings from the upper levels.
The southwest-facing elevation responds particularly closely to the movement of sunlight and the surrounding views. Its composition combines shifting facade planes, windows of varying dimensions, and an extended overhang that also creates a loggia-like space on the upper floor. Although the openings differ in size, they follow a consistent dimensional system that relates them to the wider facade composition. The resulting arrangement connects the building’s exterior form with the spatial and environmental conditions of its interior.
The environmental strategy prioritizes passive measures to minimize energy consumption before incorporating technical systems. Large openings on the southwest elevation admit natural light, while the overhangs provide shading during summer. In spring and autumn, when the sun is lower, sunlight can enter the house and contribute to passive heating. An integrated solar-panel roof supplements these passive measures, alongside a ground-source heat exchanger and a well-insulated building envelope. Together, these elements form an energy strategy that combines solar control, renewable energy generation, and thermal performance.
Through its coordinated treatment of brickwork, spatial connections, and seasonal sunlight, Family House in Maassluis reflects Derksen|Windt Architecten’s emphasis on material expression, proportion, and the relationship between interior and exterior spaces. The conventional residential form is adapted through decisions that link the experience of the house to its waterfront setting and environmental conditions.
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Project Location
Address: Glinster, Maassluis, The Netherlands
The location specified is intended for general reference and may denote a city or country, but it does not identify a precise address.
