Situated in a 100 year old building overlooking one of Amsterdam’s most beautiful 17th century canals, lies today’s interior of focus – a private home renovation by Powerhouse Company. Despite the home’s enviable location, prior to intervention the interior presented as cold, outdated and poorly organized. While juggling temporal, monetary and municipal constraints, Powerhouse addressed the project as elegantly and efficiently as possible by simplifying and opening up the interior layout, while simultaneously incorporating several high impact sculptural points of interest.

While most of the 120 square meter home was left open and white to maximize the flow of light and space, the kitchen was infused with warmth and interest with the addition of a large black cabinet unit and sculptural wooden island. The island’s warm wood finish was also carried through to the second level bedroom, where it covers the length of one wall, doubling as both headboard and built in nightstand.

One of the space’s most dramatic interventions involved breaking through the floor separating the bedroom from the main level to reveal an original double height arched window. The resultant void was then filled with an airy staircase, curved to echo the arched detailing of the historical window.

Other interventions of note occur at the base of the spiral stair, where a monumental sliding marble wall separates the main space from the bath and a dark glass wall serves to demarcate a storage room. As for the interior decor… Powerhouse cites the good luck of finding a client with an impeccable collection of mid-century Scandinavian furniture. The project is still underway, holding the promise of a garden house renovation in the future.

And we close with a bit about the brains behind all this beauty – Founded by Nanne de Ru and Charles Bessard in 2005, Powerhouse Company is a multi-service architecture and design company rooted in the belief that great architecture and design stems from the confluence of masterful creativity, craftsmanship, and spacial manipulation that successfully improves quality of life for those within. Powerhouse has worked on projects around the globe and currently has offices in Rotterdam, Copenhagen and Shanghai.

Imagery: Dick Duyves, Herman van Heusden