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Double-height shelving and custom glass vitrines create ample storage space in this Amsterdam apartment, which was designed by local studio i29 to accommodate the owner’s vast collection of art and books.Located in a former industrial area in the north of the city, the 180-square-metre apartment is on the second floor of a residential block and belongs to a writer and art collector.
Above: double-height storage walls divide the space. Top image: they include a mixture of cabinets and open shelving
Built in 2020, the apartment block was set up as a Collectief Particulier Opdrachtgeverschap (CPO), which means collective private commissioning. In the Netherlands, this is a form of social project development in which a group of individuals act as the client for a new-build project.
The building is developed as a group and each owner buys an empty shell. They can then design and build partitions in their own apartment according to their specific needs.
A green couch anchors the open-plan living room
Local studio i29 was commissioned to create a custom interior that would showcase the owner’s expansive personal library and an art collection of around 100 pieces.
“Having such a huge collection of artworks, our client wanted only one thing: to have the ultimate display and storage space,” i29 told Dezeen. “We started making a programme of requirements and calculating the exact amount of shelving we would need.”
i29 created a mezzanine level to house two bedrooms
The designers were presented with an open loft space with double-height ceilings and no fixed layout.
On the ground floor, i29 created an open-plan space for the entrance area, kitchen and living room. A series of small sculptures are displayed on glass shelves in the kitchen, while larger artworks are placed up against the walls or mounted on them.
The apartment accommodates more than 100 artworks
A mezzanine level was inserted within the double height space, housing a bathroom, two bedrooms and an office.
Two custom-designed larch wood storage walls span the full height of the apartment and include a mixture of cabinets and open shelving. They help to create a visual connection between the two levels, while concealing an integrated staircase that runs up to the mezzanine level.
The bespoke kitchen is finished in larch wood and matt grey HPL
The bespoke kitchen and all of the cabinets throughout the apartment are finished in a combination of larch and matt grey high-pressure laminate (HPL).
The floor is made from matching resin, as i29 wanted to keep the material palette deliberately neutral in order to let the art take centre stage.
i29 and Spacon & X named interior designers of the year at Dezeen Awards
“The stark and simple spatial interventions stand in contrast to the colourful pieces of art, balancing and supplementing each other,” the studio explained.
The mezzanine also houses a home office
In a similar apartment project featured on Dezeen earlier this year, EBBA Architects used structural ash and pine joinery – including a staircase, mezzanine and double-height storage wall – to connect the levels within a refurbished, open-plan apartment in London.
Photography is by Ewout Huibers.
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Amsterdam studio Barde + vanVoltt has inserted skylights and glass partition walls into this former garage to transform it into a light-filled family home that celebrates the building’s industrial past.Located in central Amsterdam, just a few steps away from the Rijksmuseum, the 100-square-metre space is on the ground floor of a residential terrace built in the 1930s. It originally hosted a hardware store but was most recently used as a garage.
Above: wood-framed glass doors lead into the bedrooms. Top image: a wood-panelled kitchen is located at the front of the apartment
Barde + vanVoltt was asked to transform the building into a wide and open family home for four that brings in as much natural light as possible. The brief also called for the use of sustainable and natural materials as well as a simple, minimalist interior that allows details to stand out.
“We wanted to keep the space as wide as possible without having corridors or a hallway because that’s what makes this space unique in Amsterdam,” Barde + vanVoltt co-founder Valérie Boerma told Dezeen. “Most apartments are divided over multiple levels and are very narrow.”
The dining room, kitchen and lounge share an open-plan space
Working to a six-month deadline, the studio’s first challenge was to channel natural light from the street-facing front of the building to the rear.
The large, double front doors that open up onto the road were switched from solid wood to glass, maximising the amount of light in the apartment’s open-plan kitchen, dining and living area.
The wooden doorframes are arched in a nod to art deco
At the rear of the building, Barde + vanVoltt raised the roof and converted the ceiling into skylights. Underneath, the plan accommodates a total of three bedrooms – a master with an en-suite and two children’s rooms that double as playrooms.
Each is delineated by timber-framed glass walls and doors, allowing natural light to filter into these darker spaces.
The apartments clay walls have built-in storage
The designers’ second challenge was balancing the integrity of the property with the needs of a young family.
“We drew inspiration from the building’s industrial past into the choice of materials and refined the selection based on durability and sustainability,” said the studio.
A free-standing tin bath anchors the en-suite bathroom
The building’s original concrete floor was retained and offset against natural clay walls and arched wooden door and window frames reminiscent of the art deco period.
“We wanted to add warmth to the concrete floor, so we designed the wooden Meranti doors with a reference in the arching detail to the 1930s when the property was built,” Boerma explained.
Standard Studio use skylights to funnel light into Amsterdam loft
The studio added industrial fixtures such as untreated wooden frames, a freestanding tin bath and sink in the en-suite, brushed and burnished copper tapware in the wet areas, and a kitchen island made from rolled steel with a quartzite benchtop.
Outside, the original hardware store signage on the building’s facade was left in place. In the summer, the wide double doors can be opened up and the pedestrianised street outside the apartment can be used as a terrace.
The kitchen features quartzite worktops
“The neighbourhood – made up of a few streets – is a very unique area in the city centre of Amsterdam,” explained Boerma. “It feels like a village, everybody knows each other and kids are playing together on the streets.”
Former inner-city garages can offer unique but sometimes awkwardly-shaped sites for development. In east London, architect Zoe Chan built Herringbone House on the non-linear site of a former car workshop, while in south London Tikari Works squeezed Pocket House into the space of a former garage, where the buildable area was only 35 square metres.
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