House for the Driver

The house was built by physician Hendrik van der Vuurst de Vries for automobiles, his driver, and his family. The house stands at the back of the doctor’s property at Julianalaan 10. This construction was the first in the Netherlands to use a steel frame structure filled with prefabricated reinforced concrete panels. The author himself says about prefabrication: “Since I became a passionate advocate of prefabrication, I am constantly looking for a suitable measurement unit that can be used universally. Alongside practical solutions, I seek in each specific project the most usable scale, the largest possible basic unit that clearly captures the proportions of the structure. It's like in film. Our eyes are able to see thousands of details in a single moment, but at the same time, they are limited to accept and evaluate merely five objects at a glance. Groups usually become units again. Objects or structures generally contain only a few basic elements that form the most flawless shapes. Corresponding treatment of ratios in the building, even if you never have to show it to anyone later, achieves a crystalline clarity that can boldly be called one of the secrets of good architecture.”