Description
We left the old transformer rooms of our old Philips factory building untouched during the renovation six years ago. The small rooms containing various different transformers had steel roller doors and were made of brick and a lot of steel. Not really the most efficient square meters to make good use of, when elsewhere in the building you have over ten thousand square meters of usable space at your disposal.
We have started reclaiming these most labour-intensive meters of the whole building so far, in order to make the smallest house in Eindhoven. I don’t know if it is truly the smallest house, but it certainly feels so, after all who lives in an old transformer room?
It will be a kind of layered caravan and because it is so small, every single detail has to be thought about and considered. But it is precisely the size that makes this possible. In a certain sense, the little house goes against the widespread desire for bigger and more. Instead it is compact, well considered and complete. With a total floor span of 45m2 spread over three floors, the transformer house will function as artist-in-residence in our building.
Three stairways are needed in this already tiny house, to reach the floors and the roof terrace that have been efficiently fitted into the layout. The former steel roller doors will be replaced by new steel bump-out window frames. These frames protrude approximately 20cm beyond the outer wall, which gives us just enough space in the kitchen for a bench or a shelf for pots and pans. There is space in the kitchen for 4 to 6 people to sit down to eat, to cook and to watch TV. There are also two bedrooms with their own bathrooms and a study space.
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