A Dutch interior

Ede is a small town in the south-eastern region of Gelderland in the Netherlands, largely covered by woodland within the boundaries of the De Hoge Veluwe national park. In this sparsely built landscape dotted with traditional wood-clad rural buildings with double-pitched roofs stands a private house. Blending perfectly into the landscape, the house was designed with materials that create a sense of continuity between interior and exterior and large windows through which the occupants can admire the surrounding landscape from the bright, light-filled spaces. The interiors stand out for their almost monastic sobriety, their clean, strictly white volumes with zero concession to decoration, and furnishings reduced to the bare minimum. The design process proceeded by a process of subtraction, concentrating the maximum expressive power into a small number of elements. The material chosen for the floor covering, a full-body porcelain tile from the Stone Pit collection by Isla, serves as a physical and visual link connecting the interior and exterior. Installed in an 80×80 cm size in all rooms in the house, it produces the effect of a uniform stone carpet in the intense, dark grey colour Thunder. Softened by variations in tone and irregularities, this colour is very popular in northern European countries and creates a powerful contrast with the white of the walls and ceiling. The chequerboard-pattern layout accentuates the continuity of the grout joints and enhances the visual perspective extending out towards the exterior.