More stories

  • The Other Season applies natural palette to boutique hotel by Dutch seaside

    Linen, bamboo and sandy-beige tones appear throughout Strandhotel Zoomers in the Netherlands, which has been designed by creative studio The Other Season.Strandhotel Zoomers huddles up against the sandy dunes of Castricum beach in north Holland.
    The hotel was completed by Dutch practice Breddels Architecten at the beginning of 2020 and features a facade clad with different-hued strips of timber.

    Creative studio The Other Season has applied a similarly warm and natural material palette throughout the hotel’s interior, which accommodates 12 guest rooms.

    Smaller rooms have views of the dunes, while larger rooms are orientated to overlook the calming ocean waves. There’s also a large apartment-style room for families visiting with children.

    “The outside of the building reflects the inside of it; simple and pure with beautiful nuances in colours that make you feel welcome and at ease,” said the studio, which is led by Jasmijn Boots and Marry Broersen.
    “We chose natural patterns, colours and materials for the flooring, doors and window coverings like bamboo and wood, as they reflect the wooden covering on the exterior of the hotel and of course the tones of the grasses and sand in the dunes.”

    Each room boasts simple white walls and an exposed concrete ceiling, but has been exclusively decorated with products from Dutch design brand HK Living.
    Taupe or maroon-striped scatter cushions have been used to dress the beds, as well as sandy-beige linen throws.

    Photo by Enstijl
    Storage is provided by bamboo-panelled cupboards, complementing the bamboo armchairs that appear underneath the rooms’ writing desks or beside the windows.

    Space&Matter converts Amsterdam’s bridge keeper’s houses into hotel rooms

    Shell-shaped ornaments, amber-hued vases and woven rugs have also been used as decor, along with oversized lamps that have been printed to feature spindly illustrations of faces.

    There’s no on-site restaurant at Strandhotel Zoomers, but instead a cosy breakfast room where guests can enjoy beverages and snacks.
    Wood has been used to craft the room’s prep counter, cabinetry and central dining table, which is surrounded by white wire-frame seats.
    More food is available just a stone’s throw away at the hotel’s sister company Beach Pavilion Zoomer.

    Other spots to stay around the Netherlands include Kazerne in Eindhoven, which has just eight guest rooms and an exhibition space that displays works from the city’s leading creatives.
    There’s also the Sweets Hotel in Amsterdam, which takes over a series of vacant canal-side bridge keeper’s houses in Amsterdam. It won the hotel and short-stay interior category at the 2019 edition of the Dezeen Awards, where it was praised by judges for “questioning the idea of hotels in the era of Airbnb”.
    Photography is courtesy of The Other Season and One Two Studio unless stated otherwise.

    Read more: More

  • Unknown Architects overhauls Amsterdam apartment with red steel columns

    Dutch studio Unknown Architects used four oxide-red steel columns to open up the previously constricted interior of this apartment in Amsterdam.House With Four Columns is a two-floor apartment situated in Amsterdam’s De Baarsjes neighbourhood.

    The apartment previously had old-fashioned interiors and, despite measuring 200-square-metres, a poor sense of space as the ground floor was dominated by a central load-bearing wall.

    Unknown Architects was brought on board to refine the home’s floor plan and give it a more modern fit-out.

    The practice first set about removing the obtrusive load-bearing wall. In its place simply stands a series of four exposed steel columns, turning the ground floor into a singular open-plan living space.
    When the columns first arrived on-site they had been finished with an oxide-red primer, but due to Dutch safety regulations, a black fire-resistant coating had to be applied.

    Instead of leaving them like this, the practice decided to add a top coat of paint that matched the columns’ original shade.
    “As a result, the steel structure becomes the most distinctive element of the interior, which makes sense to us because it is the most dramatic element in the transformation,” the studio told Dezeen.

    With the load-bearing wall gone, the ground floor is instead anchored by three elements – the first is a boxy white volume that accommodates a fridge, wardrobe, toilet and extra storage space.
    The second element is the nut-wood breakfast island in the kitchen, which is topped with grey marble. The third is the gently twisting staircase that leads down to the basement level.

    Surrounding walls on the ground floor are painted white, and the floor is smooth concrete. The columns are complemented by an oxblood-coloured leather sofa, which backs onto a tall wooden bookshelf.

    Thomas Geerlings converts canal-side Amsterdam warehouse into contemporary home

    There is also a couple of contemporary artworks and a striking pendant lamp composed of an interlocking circle and square-shaped lights.

    The basement also has a central load-bearing wall. It’s punctuated by two openings, however, the practice was unable to add more because of the high groundwater level and subsequent risk of leakage.
    Wide doorways have been introduced in House With Four Columns’ bedrooms to improve sightlines throughout the rest of this level and foster a sense of spaciousness.

    Unknown Architects was established in 2012 by Daan Vulkers and Keimpke Zigterman. The practice has previously overhauled a corner-plot property to revive its original decor features and updated a 200-year-old home to feature a twisting staircase.
    Photography is by MWA Hart Nibbrig.
    Project credits:
    Architect: Unknown ArchitectsEngineer: De IngenieursgroepContractor: To BuildCarpenter: Houtwerk Delft

    Read more: More

  • Studio Modijefsky overhauls 119-year-old restaurant Bonnie in Amsterdam

    Timber, tilework and plummy hues helped Studio Modijefsky foster a “warmly familiar” atmosphere inside this long-standing Amsterdam restaurant. The restaurant, Bonnie, has been a landmark of Amsterdam’s Amstelveenseweg neighbourhood for the past 119 years – under the old name of Cafe Bos – so was in desperate need of an overhaul. “This revived bar strikes […] More

  • Thomas Geerlings converts canal-side Amsterdam warehouse into contemporary home

    The creative director of design studio Framework has turned a neglected 19th-century warehouse in Amsterdam into a plush family home for his wife and two children. The house is located along the waters of the city’s Prinsengracht canal and occupies a disused warehouse that was originally constructed back in 1896. Over the years the five-storey building […] More

  • in

    Workhome-Playhome is a colourful Rotterdam house by Lagado Architects

    The two founders of Lagado Architects have revamped their own townhouse in Rotterdam to feature bold live-work spaces and a sculptural blue staircase. The pale-brick townhouse – renamed Workhome-Playhome – is situated in Noordereiland, a largely residential neighbourhood surrounded by the Nieuwe Maas river. It’s shared by the founders of Lagado Architects, Victor Verhagen and […] More

  • in

    Anne Claus Interiors uses natural materials and earth tones for beach restaurant De Republiek

    Sand-coloured walls serve as a backdrop to the linen, cane and teak wood furnishings inside this beachside restaurant and bar near Amsterdam, designed by Anne Claus Interiors. De Republiek is set along a stretch of beach in Bloemendaal aan Zee, a seaside neighbourhood just an hour’s train ride from central Amsterdam. For the past 17 […] More

  • in

    i29 completes colourful revamp of Felix Meritis building in Amsterdam

    Design studio i29 referenced the rich past of Amsterdam’s Felix Meritis building for the overhaul of its interiors, which now feature vivid splashes of colour. Felix Meritis is situated along the Dutch capital’s Keizersgracht canal and was built back in 1788. Although the building is now a cultural events venue, it originally served as a […] More

  • in

    Amsterdam's Karavaan restaurant has colourful interiors by Studio Modijefsky

    Yellow-tiled walls that recall grassy meadows and swampy purple ceilings appear inside this travel-themed restaurant at the centre of Amsterdam by Studio Modijefsky. Karavaan is an all-day restaurant and cocktail bar situated in Amsterdam’s Kwakersplein square. Dutch practice Studio Modijefsky designed the 357-square-metre restaurant as a journey through five natural landscapes: a meadow, swamp, forest, mountain […] More