PAUL DE RUITER STUDIO

The architecture of Paul de Ruiter is singular in so far as it is divinely graceful and refined in its simplicity. The buildings are designed to be environmentally friendly and efficient but at the same time they function as wonderful, comfortable and nothing if not nurturing and happy places in which to live.

Ever since its inception in 1994, the firm has specialized in carbon neutral design, environmentalism having been one of the mainstays of De Ruiter's philosophy since graduation from Delft University in 1990.

The focus is also very much on how a building affects the inhabitant from a psychological perspective. As such, this is architecture that is very focused on well-being, both in terms of the natural environment and the house-dweller..

However futuristic and leading-edge these creations might be, they emanate very much around this synergy of well-being, both vis a vis the environment and the inhabitant.

The philosophy is the same whether the company is designing a hotel, a school, an airport terminal, office or public building.

A considerable amount of thought is also given to space utilization issues, towards the amount of sunlight that the building lets in and generally towards the most efficacious and efficient usage of resources.

Thus the villas that de Ruiter designs are innately intelligent, built using specially developed, in-house designed computer programs that have been instigated to maximize resources, space utilization and comfort.

That said, there's nothing clinical at all about these structures. They almost radiate creativity and joy and it's that wonderful synergy of the technological and the artistic that gives them their character and genius.

They manage to be warm and welcoming as well as intensely pleasing from an aesthetic standpoint with artful colour schemes, beautiful materials and superb, luxurious interior design.

The whole package is a very alluring one indeed. Each house is an absolute one off and a classic.