A zigzagging concrete screen separates this refurbished toll house in the Dutch city of Zaltbommel with a living room extension designed by architecture studio Bekkering Adams (+ slideshow).

The renovation and extension of the brick toll house, which was originally erected in 1836, provides its owners with new living areas and work rooms, interspersed with a variety of outdoor spaces including patios and walled gardens.
Named Villa Tolhuis, the project was overseen by Rotterdam-based Bekkering Adams in close collaboration with the clients ? a couple who run a local business specialising in small renovations and home improvements. The owners then completed the building work themselves.

"For us this is a special project not just because it is developed in close dialogue with the owners, but also because it has been fully executed by them," said the architects. "This gave us the possibility to develop each detail in the best way possible to tell the story of a programme where old and new are interwoven using exceptional materials, shaped in a sculptural way."

Prior to the conversion, the toll house had been hidden behind a cluster of modern annexes and garden walls. The majority of these were removed to make way for the extension that unites the house's functions in a single cohesive structure.

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The extension adjoins the existing building but allow...