When a Japanese-Italian couple with two youngsters got down to renovate their duplex house in Amsterdam, their fundamental targets have been clear: extra daylight and a greater sense of connection all through the house. Designed by MAMM DESIGN, the renovation of this 85-year-old unit blends intelligent spatial planning with considerate architectural interventions that reply on to the household’s way of life and cultural background.
The unique format featured a skylight above the staircase, bringing pure mild into the stairwell, however blocking it from the remainder of the house have been partitions, stairs, and ground sections that reduce the house in half. To resolve this, MAMM DESIGN made a daring transfer: they eliminated the partitions, the staircase, and even a bit of the higher ground, making a vertical void. This new central quantity not solely distributes mild deeper into the house but additionally creates sightlines that permit relations really feel visually linked throughout flooring.
On the coronary heart of the renovation stands a tower-shaped construction that spans two flooring. It cleverly concentrates the house’s plumbing features, kitchen, toilet, and bogs, into one vertical unit, utilizing the placement of the present pipe field for effectivity. Wrapped by a grated staircase that circles up and round it, the tower turns into a sculptural and purposeful centerpiece. The stair’s transparency helps keep mild circulate and visible openness.
The kitchen is an sudden spotlight. Reasonably than putting it at eye stage, the designers selected to sink it down into the ground. This transfer subtly separates it from the dwelling space without having bodily partitions. Instantly above it, tucked right into a lofted nook, is a comfy play space for the kids, one other instance of how verticality is used not only for circulation, however for layering moments of household interplay.
To additional amplify the impact of the present skylight and newly opened house, each floor inside was painted white. The colour selection helps bounce daylight round, softening overcast days and fulfilling the couple’s request for a brighter, extra uplifting atmosphere.
This renovation doesn’t depend on further sq. meters, it depends on clever design. By carving out quantity as a substitute of merely dividing ground space, MAMM DESIGN has delivered a house that feels much more spacious than its footprint suggests. Each component, from the open void to the stair treads, performs a job in connecting the household and maximizing pure mild.
Pictures by Takumi Ota | Design: MAMM DESIGN | Structural Engineer: STRUCTURE engineering | Lighting designer: LIGHTDESIGN
