The residence is located in Het Gooi, Holland, Netherlands. It was designed in 1997 by architect Ben Van Berkel for a young couple. The design was based on a Möbius strip diagram studied by mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius, featuring a continuous loop without beginning or end. The residence integrates the program and movement through this loop in concrete without seams, allowing the various daily activities of residents to flow throughout the structure. It is a low, elongated form with extensive use of glass that blurs boundaries between interior and exterior.

2. LOCATION AND
SURROUNDINGS
LOCATION : Het Gooi, Holland ,Netherlands
LOCATION AREA : 550 m2
PROJECT YEAR : 1997
ARCHITECT : Ben Van Berkel , UN Studio

3. CLIENT DEATILS AND ADVISORS
PROGRAM : SINGLE - FAMILY
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT : West 8, Rotterdam
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER : ABT, Velp

4. ABOUT THE RESIDENCE
In 1993, a young couple instructed the Dutch architect Ben van Berkel
design “a house that was recognized as a reference in terms of renewal
of the architectural language.” After six years of work, the architect
responded to the wishes of customers with a house that was based on
studies of a German mathematician of the nineteenth century.

5. The idea of two people going through their own paths but share certain times, possibly by exchanging their
roles at certain points, was developed to reach materialize as the object built.
The house had to weave the various stages of the individual activities of each family member in the same
structure: work, sleep, socialize, family life, and even the time of loneliness that is needed to oneself.
Consequently, the notion of time and duration were important concepts from the outset and, later, influence on
the way of perceiving the house and its objects from different points of view.
The schema that contains these features was found in the Moebius strip, the diagram studied by the
astrologer and mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius (1790-1868). The Moebius strip is the figure of 8
without a right or vice versa, without beginning or end.
Berkel from the projected Moebius strip a house that integrates the program, the movement and structure,
all without seams. The movement through this loop built in concrete trace all the patterns of daily activity.

7. DESCIPTION OF THE
RESIDENCEThe property is structured in three levels, two studies in each of the ends of the house for their respective
professions, three bedrooms, a meeting room, being, a kitchen, a storehouse and a greenhouse on the top, All
these units are linked into the routine of time.
Low and elongated forms of housing, which are a result of stretching the structure to the maximum, in
addition to the massive use of glass enclosures, is increasing linkages with the environment. The house takes
aspects of the landscape and, from inside, residents are experiencing the idea of walking through the
countryside.
The contortions and twists in the house beyond the mathematical diagram. Correspond to the movement that
shaped by a new lifestyle characterized by the use of electronic systems at work. Ben van Berkel has managed to
give an additional meaning to the diagram of the Moebius strip, a new symbolic value that corresponds with the
increasingly blurred boundaries between home and work.

8. ZONING OF THE RESIDENCE
GROUND FLOOR:
GUEST
ROOM
CIRCULATION
SPACE
STORAGE
TOILET

9. ZONING OF THE RESIDENCE
FIRST FLOOR:
LIVING
ROOM
MEETING
ROOM
VERANDA KITCHEN
STORAGE
CIRCULATION
CIRCULATI
ON
RAMP
STUDIO 1
BEDROOM

10. ZONING OF THE RESIDENCE
SECOND FLOOR :
TOILET
STUDIO 2
CIRCULATION
STORAGE
BEDROOM 2BEDROOM 1

11. SITE PLAN OF THE RESIDENCE

12. LIGHTING AND SPACES

13. MATERIALS
CONCRETE
TIMBER
GLASS

14. ELEVATION OF THE RESIDENCE

15. ADVANTAGES
ALOT OF IMPORTANCE IS
GIVEN TO WORKING
SPACES.
THERE IS GOOD LIGHTING
AND VENTILATION INSIDE
THE HOUSE.
THE RESIDENCE IS
SURROUNDED WITH ALOT
OF GREENERY.

16. DISADVANTAGES
THERE ARE NO
SPACES FOR
INTERACTION
BETWEEN THE FAMILY
EXCEPT FOR THE
DINING ROOM.
THERE ARE ALOT OF
NARROW CORRIDORS
WHICH LOOKS ALITTLE
SCARY.

17. SECTION

18. SECTION

19. INTERIOR

20. INTERIOR

21. INTERIOR

22. INTERIOR

23. Thank You
Rajasri. S