Ah, the Netherlands. A land of wealth and good taste where even a demolished office building can get a second life as a sunny bungalow worthy of an eight-page spread in a shelter magazine. In the Dutch city of Utrecht, architect Rolf Bruddink has built himself a gorgeous new home in a 19th-century coach house—using only material salvaged from the destroyed office next door.
Bruddink, who runs Studio Rolf (and is responsible for this fantastic M.C. Escher-esque renovation) bought the land with the coach house and the office building in 2011. The original coach house was built in 1895 in the back of an aristocrat's home on the historic Maliebaan avenue in Utrecht. In 1955, a wooden one-story outbuilding was built, but was abandoned and not in use by the time Bruddink acquired the land. While demolishing it, the architect had the idea to use the recovered material as the sole construction material for the coach house he planned to refurbish for himself and his girlfriend.
