Mecanoo designed Villa Vaught with traditional Dutch farmsteads in mind

Villa Vaught dots the Dutch countryside like a miniature village. Designed by Mecanoo, the Dutch architecture studio behind floating glass houses and the NYPL renovation, the home is comprised of three volumes that together create a space that’s a little bit traditional and a lot bit contemporary.

Mecanoo created the home in the style of a “hoeve,” an assembly of Dutch farmhouses and living quarters that cluster around a central courtyard. Except in the case of Villa Vaught the three separate buildings on the property are part of a single home. The house centers around a tall, angular structure that houses the bedrooms and a rooftop terrace. Next to it are two smaller structures that look like modern barns.

One of the barns is attached to the main house via a walkway that’s obscured by a grassy mound. Inside, there’s a kitchen, dining room, living room, workspace, and playroom. The other fully detached structure is a cooking studio where visitors can take classes and workshops.

The distributed layout is connected by materials. All of the structures are clad in anodized aluminum that takes on the corrugated appearance of the area’s nearby iron roofs. Inside, cross-laminated timber fills the rooms, creating a gorgeous contrast between a dark and moody exterior and a light and airy inside.