Polyphemos House / Martens Willems & Humblé Architecten

Text description provided by the architects. A private house at the Klevarie site in Maastricht. Within the historic city walls, this was before an old monastery garden, later a hospital, and a nursing home. But always served as hidden green space for the site. In our urban plan for the site, we cherished this green space. The gate on the street functions as a ‘pars pro toto’ for this project. The charming modernist nursing home of the architect Schellinckx from 1962 still stands at the site. A unique modernist incident within the cityscape for Maastricht standards.

Within these conditions, one lot remained free. On the edge of this place stands a high monumental tree. In the small garden from the 1950s that belonged to the nursing home, a stump of an ancient monumental Ginkgo Biloba was preserved. This is the remnant of the first Ginkgo Biloba that was imported from China by a Franciscan monk to the Netherlands at the end of the 18th century. (Of these cuttings are spread over the most important botanical gardens in the Netherlands, including the Hortus Botanicus in Leiden.)

The housing volume is formed by a number of urban planning restrictions and the presence of the tree on the plot. As the final piece, the house has been inserted into the row as a sculptural object. And in doing so, the masses form a counterpoint to the adjacent modernist monumental Polvertoren. In tone, texture, and scale they are family staying in both incidents. Personal gestures that belong to an incremental city.

The footprint is limited to an area of 6 by 9 meters. Above that, the volume was allowed to expand again to a square of 9 by 9 meters. In floor plans and cross-sections, these measures and dimensions always play a role in the division of the various spaces and facades.

The ground floor is connected to the first floor by a large void and that floor is connected to the second floor by the loggia. The third floor through a large skylight with the sky and looks back at the Polvertoren. The concrete spiral staircase with an open center circle through the volume is a connecting vertical core throughout the house.

The plinth was provided with smooth painted stucco, the top with a coarse ‘kratzputz’ to turn on the gravity inversion a little more strongly. The house has a thick warm shell, is compact, and has a fully integrated sunroof that supplies the heat pump with energy.