It became evident that the house to be designed would be part of a new eco-estate, located on a outskirts of the Pietersberg; a beautiful spot in the hills, with a panoramic view over the river Maas and the nearby city of Maastricht. During the progression of the design of the house, the surrounding agricultural land, full of historical agricultural poison, was transformed into a contemporary eco-estate: a mini arcadia. The complex now includes vineyards, fruit trees and vegetable gardens. A number of areas are grazed by primal cows. The architectural language for the intended villa demanded both the kind of seriousness and playfulness, that puts things into perspective. After all, that is how we also looked at the present landscape. Keep in mind, that the present formative nature that arose over the centuries also has a similar dualism. We often make ourselves believe, that we meet untouched nature. Nothing could be further from the truth, not here either. Many human hands have already touched these landscapes. All too often, there were cannons of attacking armies on this spot, which rigorously explored more than just the landscape. Those looking for substantiation often start with the raw, unprocessed. In our culture, we like to refer to it as a family of the archaic; almost unedited by human hands, perhaps. Our actions like to be the measure of things and we consequently like to measure nature (that raw material) with that standard. Therefore and self-satisfied, we see such ‘raw’ material as the beginning of something. We were allowed to create this design, together with the artist Xander Spronken and his team. As an independent artist, he is used to hammering meaning into centimetres thick steel. A while back, he started building his own studio and house, using almost petrified, recycled, hardwood harbour quay piles. Eventually, he created a number of buildings for friends and acquaintances; and now this house. The building shows as little complex detail or contemplation as possible, together with a focus on a 'primitive' primal detailing, whenever details were needed. The design has been developed, assuming that the first hunch is often best and overthinking can lead to flattening. As a result, the syntax in the architecture shows a refreshing simplicity. Although demonstrably hyper-rigid, there is ample room for an inspiration that fits so well with our daily and, above all, immature human actions. The rigid use of recycled wooden beams and columns automatically creates an archetype of the Modern; a glass box with an autonomous supporting structure. The creation of the estate and this building would have been inconceivable without years of endless inspiration of an extremely steadfast client, who by the way became no less than a contemporary, self-made polymath.