Cutaway of the model showing both floors and the furnished rooms

AER Home

Project
AER Home
Client
Dura Vermeer
Location
Utrecht, NL
Materials
MDF wood, Multiplex wood, acrylic and mixed media
Exhibition Model
1:30

To present their “Woningconcept” house, DURA Vermeer requested a 1:30 model that would fully demonstrate the spatial and construction principles of the project. As the house is entirely built in wood, from structure to facade, it was only natural to realize the maquette completely in wood as well. The house is composed of four rooms of identical proportions, arranged around a compact central core, containing the service spaces. By concentrating all technical rooms at the center, the facades remain free, allowing inside/outside relationships to take place. This organization makes each room interchangeable in function, enabling the inhabitants to define their identity, according to their needs.

  • Straight-on section through the ridge of the house 1/5
  • Interior cutaway with the kitchen and dining furniture in place 2/5
  • Close-up of the vertical timber cladding, the recessed front door and the tiled roof of the model 3/5
  • The closed volume, with its tiled roof and vertical timber cladding 4/5
  • Animated view of the AER Home model, a gabled house with its roof and floors cut open 5/5

In line with the architecture, it was important to fabricate as many elements as possible in wood. To let the viewer understand the structural logic of the house we opted to build a section model, showing the internal composition of the facades and floor layers. This approach emphasizes the sustainable construction methods while maintaining full visibility of the interior. To reinforce the blurred lines between inside/outside we used transparent acrylic for the windows and doors. This level of attention was also given to the facade and roofs, as we wanted to get as close as possible to the construction methods used. Each board was individually assembled in layers, creating depth and texture at this scale.

The flexibility in the layout is also visible through the model’s interactivity. Furniture elements are movable to allow the observer to rearrange and interpret the spaces. The central core is removable, creating an interior viewpoint that would only be visible from within the house. This gives the opportunity to closely examine the spatial organizations, tiling details and interior configuration of the technical spaces.

1:30 model of the AER Home: a two-storey timber house with a tiled roof on a grass base
  • Detail model of a bathroom in plywood and tile, seen from above 1/5
  • Detail model of a bathroom with a toilet behind a plywood partition, seen from above 2/5
  • Detail of the interior stair, photographed through the open side of the model 3/5
  • Three-quarter cutaway with the storage shed alongside 4/5
  • Animated section of the AER Home model showing the rooms on both floors 5/5
The insect hotel: a plywood structure with open shelving and a planted roof of moss and sedum