A very spacious and prominent town house was renovated gently and with lots of respect. Utilitarian parts where completely rethought and approached as individual interventions. The client wanted these elements to fit the existing interior seamless and represent the grandeur of the building in the same way. The challenge was to feel the clients’ needs and approach the classical interior with a new vision.
One of the first rooms to cross when entering the building became more of a small intervention then a design of a closet. The toilet and cloakroom are situated next to each other and differ half a floor level. This encouraged a more playful solution. The upper part of the cabinet in the cloakroom is used as a hand basin on the other side. The hand basin is made of a black marble stone, nero marcina, a link to the original black mosaic-stones used in the floor. A glass plate separates both rooms but keeps a visual connection. The toilet and lighting for the cloakroom are hidden behind the opal part of the glass.
The kitchen concept and design where based on the dark brown marble of the chimney. Therefor the architect chose a marble with similar colour and nuances, dark emperador. Centrally in the room there’s the cooking island designed on an ergonomic worktop height. A lower cupboard for storage was designed under the windows to not prevent natural light from entering the room. The top of the marble sink between the two windows is positioned on the same height as the central cooking island.
The library is a complex puzzle of irregularities. The dark and warm wood used for the bookshelves match the dark lines of the original parquet. Also in this room details where based on the marble of the chimney. The little shelves above the cabinet doors are executed in rouge Belge marble.
The bathroom is probably the flagship of the design for this classic town house. The design-choices are resulting in a logic and efficient use of space. The well-thought positioning of LED-line-lighting emphasises this. Symmetry between bath and wash-basin are slightly accentuated by two shadow-lines. The cabinet doors above the wash-basin are, once opened, used as mirrors. Once closed they form a uniform warm wooden wall. The same marble as in the kitchen is used, dark emperador, fitting the warmth and colour of the wood used for the cupboard and floor.
Behind the bath the old chimney was used to separate shower, toilet en bath from each other. This was a key design-decision and resulted in zero loss of surface. This choice made it possible to hide a warmer lighting compared to the functional LED-lights and useful shelves for the shower and toilet. The use of brown matte glass provides both shower and toilet the necessary privacy.
