LOFT FOR A COUPLE, UTRECHT, NL

LUCAS&DAAN ARCHITECTEN, 2007

TEAM LUCAS VAN DEN OEVER, DAAN ROGGEVEEN

 

 

PICTURE: ROB ‘T HART

 

 

 

 

How to design a loft in a large attic for a couple which is used to living in a large, 19th century house in a typical Dutch inner city? And what are the essentials in such a design? But moreover; how does one make a specific design for a senior couple with not very rare interests or hobbies? They like reading, he likes to cook, and they have a wine stock. The two specific demands they had were enough storage space, and a separate guestroom, including bathroom and toilet.

Not such an odd combination of requirements. But odd enough to make a specific interior design with?

The main issue of this couple is that they leave the house in which they brought up their children, be­cause it’s too large. ´We only sit downstairs´ they said. This is where the plot thickens. He does not use his study. She likes to read the paper in the kitchen when he is making a meal. They like to see each other.

They bought the apartment as part of a redevelopment of 20 apartments in a former orphanage. When they bought it, the renovation architect already made a plan for the attic apartments as well. A hallway, a kitchen, a living room and several bedrooms were in the plan.

 

 

 

 

lucas&daan architects were invited with the following brief: ‘make a design that fits us, you have carte blanche concerning the already proposed floor plan’.

Seeing each other is the main theme of this apartment. And moreover, the design makes use of the most important asset the attic has to give: length. The complete area is used.

As a strategy the closed program is placed in boxes, which creates places in between: room for the open program. The boxes are placed in an arrangement which leads to an interesting space. The storage wall and bookcases form lines in the floor plan which articulate the logistic lines. The negative shape of the closed program can be interpreted as the living area.

The closed program is placed in such way that visual relations through the whole apartment are pos­sible. From the kitchen it is possible to look 25 meters through the apartment.

From the living, one can see the kitchen and the study. And from the study, there is visual connection with the master bedroom, via the mirrored wardrobe. The only element that is closed off is the guest­house. It is positioned in the middle of the apartment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wardrobe in the hall is extensible. The hall itself is created by the placement of a large bookcase opposite the front door: show me your books, and I tell you who you are.

The bookshelves are executed under a 90 degree angle; not the horizontal but the vertical elements are dominant: a book forest. The books are not sorted alphabetically, but by size.

Guests should have the possibility to operate autonomous in the guesthouse, therfore a separate bath­room including shower and toilet had to be made. The guesthouse has an extravert storage wall which separates the bedroom from the bathroom. Cases in the wall facilitate the storage of a weekend bag, a couple of shirts, shoes and the place to lay down the car keys.

The large storage wall in the living room hides all kinds of different programs behind its generic white doors; varying from whine fridge to sound insulated washing machine.

The roomdivider divides the study from the living. On its seprating side, it is closed, on the side of the study, it is open.

For small perfume bottles, a show-case had to be designed. A glass show-case was attached to the room divider, in such a way that it forms an eye catcher in the loft. To avoid doors and hinges, the whole case can be rolled away.

The bathroom is open on the side of the bedroom. It creates the possibility to take a bath in the middle of the bedroom.

It is always nice to have a mirror close to your wardrobe; this was the starting point in thinking about the design of the mirroring wardrobe. The next step was to design the wardrobe as a box as well: a mirror­ing box. It would be a shame to place door-knobs, but otherwise stains and fingerprints would be a prob­lem. Therefore, the wardrobe got a personal imprint; his doors have his fingerprint, her doors have hers.