Roomservice at Olof's
Architects Freyke Hartemink (FreyH Studio) and Jarrik Ouburg (OJO) transform oldest chapel of Amsterdam into a restaurant for Michelin chef.
Restaurant Vermeer is located on the ground floor of the Barbizon Palace hotel along the Prins Hendrikkade in Amsterdam. The hotel will be refurbished and during the renovation the restaurant moves to the adjacent Saint Olof's Chapel. The chapel was built around 1440, making it the oldest chapel in Amsterdam.
Hotel furniture that became available during the renovation was used for the interior of the restaurant. Similar to the way painter Johannes Vermeer used interior elements like a window, table or tapestry to define a space, the architects used elements of the hotel rooms to transform the monumental space of the chapel into small intimate rooms. The name of the restaurant refers to this intervention: Roomservice at Olof's.
On the ground floor this results in a surreal world where you wander between mini bars, nightstands, hanging mirrors and curtains. From the mezzanine level a guest can oversee the dining rooms. Here it's all about watching and being watched.
