This bright home with unexpected views features many rooms for discovery and admiration. Designed by Amsterdam based studio, i29, the house was an abandoned 17th century canal dwelling originally built in 1675 along the canals near Amstelveld.
“Over the years, the neglected house had fallen into a state of near total ruin, and the renovation took more than 2 years to execute in collaboration with a team of specialists,” the i29 team explains.
The refurbished interior gives the ancient structure with emphasis on various parts of the house in different colours. The colourful rooms feature original elements that were either revealed or concealed in diverse ways. In addition, the many rooms are linked through colour or finishes to effortlessly transition them from one space to the next, creating unexpected sightlines and to create a spatial experience. Consequently, the new interventions and finishes by i29 are easily distinguishable from the old structure.
The ground floor kitchen area, adorned with white concrete, has light walls, and a custom-made oak kitchen and dining table. A green glass volume denotes a concealed, fully-furnished guest room with an en-suite bathroom and garden access as you pass through it. A gray-stained oak wall that also serves as a lovely entrance to the rooms above visually connects the kitchen to the study room above. Additionally,yhe same shade of grey is carried over into the living area, although it is represented by an acoustical fabric wall covering. A reading or leisure zone with a soothing blue finish is concealed behind the living room’s spinning book wall.
For the upper floor’s sleeping quarters, the palette takes on a luxurious hotel-inspired theme to generate an atmosphere of calm and comfort. The bathroom and the master bedroom were separated from one another by a mirrored volume that also houses the stairway and the shower area. Here, i29 maintained the master bedroom’s original roof structure. Two-way mirrors are used in the construction of the shower walls, enhancing direct views of the canals. The adjacent bathroom has a freestanding matching sink and traditional Japanese bath made of wood.
“All of the new and clearly-designed interventions are tailor-made for this 17th century house and blend into the existing environment, yet also raise the quality of the house to a higher level that is ready for the next generation,” i29 says.
www.i29.nl/projects/canal-house
