Interior canal house Amsterdam

Using 'Japanese minimalism' as a stylistic starting point, cepezedinterieur has designed a completely new interior for an eighteenth-century Amsterdam canal house. The addition of oak veneer, glass and white surfaces brings tranquillity and accentuates the monumental character. The staircase and some other functions are cleverly clustered in the heart of the building. Sightlines were carefully maximised. As a result, the floors appear spacious and daylight enters in the best possible way.

client(s)
private

location
Amsterdam

user(s)
private

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expertise
cepezed interior

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sober but warm

The colour palette is sober but warm: Oak veneer walls and an oak floor are combined with white paint, white solid surfaces, matt black coating and profiles and plinths of black steel. The new interior elements take full account of the existing windows, beams and rafters. While clearly recognisable as new, the choice of restrained colours and materials ensures that additions are never obtrusive.

stairwell furniture

Some of the large, new cabinets also serve as partitions or blend into other furniture. The stairwell at the heart of the house is an artistic object in itself, totally covered in oak veneer. It connects the house from the second floor to the attic. It also incorporates other functions, visible or not, such as a heat recovery system and a toilet. On the outer side, the 'stairwell furniture' functions, among other things, as a bookcase in the living room.

bright working space

Meet, work and park your bike: the work space on the ground floor is spacious and multifunctional. By adding the former alley with large openings in the partition wall, daylight falls naturally through the skylights of the 'alley' into the workspace. On the other side, cupboards, installations and the thick, fire-resistant sliding door to the corridor are hidden in a large wall of matt black HPL.

first and second floor

The first floor houses two bedrooms and a bathroom. The stairwell furniture divides the open floor above it into a living area and a kitchen, without compromising spaciousness. The floor continues on one side, while an interior window screens off the sitting area on the other. As daylight falls around it on all sides, the stairwell manifests itself even more explicitly here as the heart of the house.

privacy with sliding panels

The third floor houses the master bedroom. A long sightline from front to back, along the heart with the stairwell, connects the sleeping area with a luxurious bathroom. Sliding panels of aluminium slats with wood veneer and frosted glass ensure privacy and filter light. From this floor, stairs lead to the attic, where there is a gym and a glass door gives access to a roof patio.