Dezeen Magazine

Lime Wash House by Chris Collaris Architects

Chris Collaris Architects crowns Lime Wash House with oversized roof

Lime-washed bricks and a black overhanging roof characterise this house that Dutch studio Chris Collaris Architects has completed in a verdant garden near Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Appropriately called Lime Wash House, the home is designed for a family who wanted an intimate connection to their surroundings in the suburb of Sonniuspark in Son en Breugel.

Lime Wash House by Chris Collaris Architects
Chris Collaris Architects has created Lime Wash House

Chris Collaris Architects placed the home in the middle of the plot and incorporated generous openings to ensure a link between the house and the garden, which was landscaped by local studio Frank Heijligers.

The studio's design fits three floors across what appears to be a two-storey volume, with an open-plan living space on the ground floor, bedrooms on the first floor and an attic study in the roof.

White house in the Netherlands
It is located in Sonniuspark in Son en Breugel

Large gable end walls clad in tumbled bricks with a pale lime wash are coupled with a large sandwich panel roof to help exaggerate the proportions of the home.

"Together with the big roof extensions [and] minimal detailing, the house looks familiar yet strangely familiar," studio founder Chris Collaris told Dezeen. "You understand the clear form, yet the volume is more fierce."

Overhanging roof of Lime Wash House
The home has a large overhanging roof

The garden, which surrounds all sides of the Lime Wash House, is designed to offer different environments to sit, play and relax. It can be accessed from four points on the ground floor.

"The garden organisation is connected to the structure of the house," said Collaris. "When water falls from the roof it goes directly from the overhanging roofparts towards the flower beds."

The entrance to the home is positioned under the roof's overhang, highlighting its timber underside and its gutter-free eaves.

Inside Lime Wash House, a hallway with a triple-height void leads to an L-shaped living space housing the kitchen, dining room and living room. Here, warm timber joists line the ceilings.

Interior photo of Lime Wash House by Chris Collaris Architects
Visual connections to the outdoors are prioritised

A connection to the outdoors is prioritised, with the northwest corner of the home opening up completely to link the dining space to an outdoor terrace.

On the upper storeys, the timber joists of the roof are expressed in the bedrooms and family bathroom.

Bedroom with wooden bed
Timber joists are left exposed inside

A highlight of the home is the dual-storey dormer. Shared between the bathroom and the study space above it, it has sliding full-height windows and offers views across the verdant garden.

Previous homes that Chris Collaris Architects has completed in the Netherlands include a lakeside residence clad in black-stained timber and a compact black house designed to stand out like a minimalist sculpture, both near Amsterdam.

The photography is by Tim van de Velde.

More images and plans

Ground floor plan of Lime Wash House
Ground floor plan
First floor plan of Lime Wash House
First floor plan
Second floor plan of Lime Wash House
Second floor plan
Section of Lime Wash House
Section
Photo of Lime Wash House
Photo of Lime Wash House
Photo of Lime Wash House
Photo of Lime Wash House
Photo of Lime Wash House
Photo of Lime Wash House
Photo of Lime Wash House
Photo of Lime Wash House
Photo of Lime Wash House