Introduction
This project rethinks the classic Dutch two-under-one-roof typology for a waterfront site along the Maas in Cuijk. Two mirrored dwellings share a single roof volume while maintaining distinct identities — the design explores how a familiar housing form can be elevated through careful attention to proportion, materiality, and the relationship to the river landscape.
Two houses, one gesture. The design shows that sharing a roof need not be a compromise — it can strengthen the quality of both dwellings.
The two dwellings seen from the Maas riverbank — Waterkering, Cuijk
Vision
The two-under-one-roof is one of the most common housing types in the Netherlands — and one of the most overlooked. Too often the shared roof is treated as a technical necessity rather than an architectural opportunity. This project reverses that reasoning: the shared roof is the starting point of the design, not its outcome.
A single roof form, clearly readable from the river, gives the two dwellings a shared identity without undermining their independence. The boundary between the dwellings is present but subtle — a thin dividing line at the centre of a composed whole.
The riverfront location makes the project distinctive. The Maas is not the backdrop but the primary quality of the site — and the design is fully oriented toward that quality.
Design
The two dwellings are conceived as a single composed volume from the exterior, while the interiors are entirely independent. A shared entrance threshold — a covered loggia facing the river — mediates between the two households without imposing on either's privacy.
The plan is oriented to maximise views across the Maas, with living spaces pushed to the river side and service spaces arranged along the street edge to buffer noise and provide privacy.
Ground floor plan — the two mirror-image dwellings and their shared entrance loggia
Living
The living spaces are generous and river-facing. Floor-to-ceiling glazing at the rear provides uninterrupted views across the Maas and draws daylight deep into the floor plan. In winter the south-facing glass captures passive solar warmth; in summer the roof overhang shades the facade.
The bedrooms are on the upper floor, sheltered from street noise by the solid front of the building. From the rear bedroom, the view across the Maas is the first thing the resident sees in the morning.
River View
The loggia on the river side is the heart of the building's public life. Here you encounter your neighbour, sit on a summer evening, and the boundary between private and shared is at its most blurred and most productive.
The loggia is covered but open on three sides — shelter without enclosure. The Maas is always present: as sound, as light on the water, as the boats that pass.
Materiality
The exterior is finished in hand-formed brick with a warm ochre tone that references the agricultural buildings of the Maas valley. The shared roof is clad in dark zinc, its singular form unifying the two dwellings beneath a single gesture that reads clearly from across the river.
Interior joinery uses locally sourced oak throughout — window frames, staircases, and built-in cabinetry — creating a material continuity between inside and the natural landscape of the riverbank outside.
Shared
The two dwellings share not only a roof but also an entrance, a bicycle store, and a communal garden on the street side. These shared elements are deliberately designed as meeting places — not neutral zones but spaces with character that invite contact.
Each household retains complete privacy within their own dwelling. What is shared is precisely enough to make neighbourship possible — not so much that it becomes intrusive.
Ground floor plan — the two mirror-image dwellings and their shared entrance loggia
Construction
The load-bearing structure consists of brick masonry with timber floor beams. The shared party wall functions both as a dividing wall and a structural wall — a dual role that makes the construction efficient and economical.
The zinc roof is executed as a single continuous surface spanning both dwellings. The detailing of the ridge, gutter, and eaves is carefully worked out to keep the composition legible from outside.
Conclusion
Two under One Roof demonstrates that an ordinary housing typology can be extraordinary when designed with care for its context. The Maas as orientation, the shared roof as compositional device, the loggia as meeting space — each element is simple, but together they give the design a strength that surpasses its modest scale.
It is ultimately a project about neighbourship: two households choosing proximity without surrendering their independence. That is an architectural choice that also expresses a social value.