House in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, image courtesy WAMHOUSE

The house interior design has been created with a young, modern family in mind. The building has a lot of glazing, which made it easier to achieve the effect of spaciousness. An additional factor which influences reception of space are bright colours.

House in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, image courtesy WAMHOUSE

An element which joins all interiors is whiteness and wood – bleached oak yet to avoid boredom, we added another, vivid colour to each interior:

• in the living part (sitting room, hall, kitchen and vestibule) – violet
• in guest bathroom on the ground floor – red combined with black
• in the ground floor study – lime green
• in the family bathroom in the attic – blue
• in the parents' bedroom in the attic – yellow
• in the children's rooms in the attic – a medley of several colours

House in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, image courtesy WAMHOUSE

Thanks to such diversity of colours, the interiors are not dull, yet none of the aforementioned colours will lose its appeal too fast.

House in Grodzisk Mazowiecki /Poland
Design: WAMHOUSE | www.wamhouse.com

+ All images courtesy WAMHOUSE

Rieteiland House, image courtesy Imre Csany/Csany Studio

We all occasionally fantasize about our dream home, but few of us ever manage to make it a reality. And how does the architect himself live? In this case, the private home of architect Hans van Heeswijk led to a spacious and light-filled house full of special details. The client and architect Van Heeswijk was encouraged not to settle for off-the-peg solutions. Instead, he seized the opportunity to work to a higher level of ambition in terms of how to use energy, how to maximize the potential of technology, how to respond to the context, and how to stretch the limits of what is possible. The result is a real machine for living in.

Rieteiland House, image courtesy Imre Csany/Csany Studio

While the front of this waterside house, on the recently developed island of IJburg near Amsterdam, is clad in perforated aluminium panels, the rear is entirely glazed, so that residents can watch the sun set. Some of these panels are positioned behind windows and can be opened automatically to allow light to enter. The waterfront façade, by contrast, is completely open and orientated to the view. On the second floor, part of the volume is omitted to create space for a screened roof terrace. Typical of Van Heeswijk's designs is the application of ‘timeless’ materials such as glass, steel, concrete and wood.

Rieteiland House, image courtesy Imre Csany/Csany Studio

The sensory experience is largely determined by the transparency achieved and a flowing spaciousness that extends from high to low and from big to small. Located in the centre of the plan is a core (the ‘magic box’) that rises the full three-storey height of the building and is wrapped in wenge timber for acoustic reasons. The core contains storage closets, a toilet on every floor, cables and a dumbwaiter. Openings in the floor slabs create double height spaces in the large ground-floor dining area, a first-floor living area and second-floor master bedroom. Views become increasingly panoramic towards the top of the house. Balustrades made of glass ensure unobstructed views from the balconies.

Rieteiland House, image courtesy Imre Csany/Csany Studio

The house is designed to accommodate the family's way of living. When changing clothes in the bathroom, they throw the laundry into a tube that carries it down two floors to the washing machine. Once washed and ironed, the clothes are carried back upwards on a small lift. All of this underlines the effective and efficient design of the house.

Rieteiland House, image courtesy Imre Csany/Csany Studio

Van Heeswijk took the opportunity to design almost everything specially for his home. From furniture, shelves, bathroom furniture, benches, cabinets, fireplace, long dining tables, a kitchen island with built-in dessert trolley to the door handles. The door and window fittings are now in the collection of Post & Eger, series ‘Wave’.

The house has been nominated for the Amsterdam Architecture Prize 2012. The winner will be announced by the end of April 2012.

Rieteiland House - Ground floor plan, drawing courtesy Hans van Heeswijk

+ Project facts

Rieteiland House
the private home of Dutch architect Hans van Heeswijk

Total volume: 900 m3
Total gross floor surface: 270 m2
Client: Hans van Heeswijk
Photographer: Imre Csany/Csany Studio

+ All image and drawings courtesy Hans van Heeswijk | Photo by Imre Csany/Csany Studio

Toby's Estate, image courtesy Toby's Estate

Toby's Estate, image courtesy Toby's Estate

Toby's Estate, image courtesy Toby's Estate

Over the last decade, coffee shops have been serving up more than a cup of coffee to loyal patrons. From a friendly meeting place to a quiet study room, coffee shops have become an extension of our living room, a place we feel safe to harbour for a few hours while incessantly checking our email, or finishing the final scene in what will become our breakout playwright. Enter Toby’s Estate, a freshly imported Australian coffee company who found it's new (and only) US home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A coffee shop with an on-premise roasting facility, Toby’s Estate is already abuzz with Brooklyn locals. Offering neighbours a watering hole for a casual run-in, Brooklyn's newest coffee outpost returns to the notion that good coffee and conversation are priceless.

Client: nemaworkshop
Project: Toby’s Estate, Brooklyn

+ All images courtesy nemaworkshop