Random Studio Links Up with X+L for an Amsterdam Office That’s All About Connections

Tasked with creating synergy between a company’s digital culture and physical surroundings, Amsterdam’s Random Studio transformed a mostly-raw 11,800-square-foot space into a new headquarters for some 50 employees. With some help from local firm X+L, they seamlessly integrated the old and new.

Traditional techniques—concrete planters for trees in the open studio space, a 3,300-square-foot roof garden—mix with the latest in sustainable innovation, from walls made of sound-absorbing recycled newspaper to electrical heat pumps that eliminate the building’s need for gas entirely. 

More futuristic features complete the project. An interconnected technical infrastructure manages the lighting, temperature, and interfaces for the studio’s digital art and design projects. A site-specific light installation by artist Arnout Meijer projects exterior light conditions onto the ceiling and rear wall. “It runs a virtual sky simulation based on the local latitude/longitude, date, and time to create an accurate representation of a local sky,” says Daan Lucas, founder and managing director of Random Studio.

“It also interfaces with a weather API to drive a dynamic cloud simulation,” Lucas shares. “The colors of the virtual sky change throughout the day and year.” This means the team is graced with a midday sunset and subsequent sunrise as the light shifts from hues of yellow to deeper oranges to reds. “The end of the week is signified with an early and very drawn-out virtual sunset,” he adds. Call it a Sunset Friday. 

i29 Reinvents a Historic Canal House in Amsterdam

The archetypal Amsterdam canal house constitutes much of the Dutch city’s residential landscape. Dating to the 17th century, these four- or five-story waterfront row houses were conceived as hybrids: part living space, part warehouse storage for goods transported along the canals. They were built sturdily of wood and masonry construction with heavy beams, i29 co-founder Joeren Dellensen explains, “which is why they still exist.”

Albeit not always in the greatest shape. Take this compact 1675 house near Amstelveld square. Though designated a state monument, it had fallen into ruin before new owners initiated a meticulous two-year restoration and update. “From the start we knew i29 had to be involved in the project, to instill their out-of-the-box, serene, and perfect design,” notes the client, who first hired the firm nine years ago to craft an “invisible kitchen” for the family’s Paris apartment that was entirely concealed behind sliding wall panels imitative of decorative molding.

Here, architectural interventions were strictly limited by mandates protecting heritage houses. “We were not allowed to demolish any walls,” co-founder Jasper Jansen says, noting that the project was a collaborative effort among firm members. “And we couldn’t build any, either, even though very few existed in the space.”

Instead, color performs the role of spatial demarcation. “We used color as a tool to expose the architectural shell to the fullest and to make interventions that define functions,” Dellensen notes, adding that the classic hues chosen “are in sync with the monumental quality of the building.” Complementary blues, greens, and grays are muted and somewhat smoky, contrasting with swaths of crisp white.

Related Post: i29 & Chris Collaris Evoke High Contrast for a Summer Residence in Vinkeveen, the Netherlands

The 1,240-square-foot interior of the Amsterdam canal house, adjoining a rear garden, offers long sight lines and elements of delightful surprise. A steep, curving stairway, every bit original, connects the three full floors plus three intermediating half levels. The entry opens into a cozy seating alcove with wide steps down to the ground floor, which had to be lowered for foundation repairs. Occupying the majority of this level is the eat-in kitchen, where custom oak millwork is coupled with chairs by Naoto Fukasawa and lighting pendants by Ludovica and Roberto Palumbo. At the far end of the space, a green glass volume marks entry to a pass-through bathroom leading to a hidden bedroom with garden access.

Fittingly, the living room on floor two retains its characteristic plaster walls and bas-relief ceiling ornamentation, painted creamy white, and restored pine flooring. Behind the rotating bookshelf lies a surprise: a moody blue cocoon in which to read or relax. On the opposite side of the room is another surprise: Interior windows provide a split-level view of the entry seating nook below and the study a half-flight above, where a swath of springlike green frames the built-in desk.

Up on the third floor, “sleeping quarters radiate comfort like a true hotel experience,” Dellensen remarks. Exposed beams trace the peaked ceiling in the main bedroom. Two-way mirrored panels enclose the WC/shower stall, offering sight lines out (into the wet area’s Japanese-inspired soaking tub and beyond) but not in. Up a ladder, an additional mini level is squeezed in below the roof’s bell gable to function as the daughter’s bedroom. So enamored are the homeowners by their pied-à-terre’s charm that they are spending even more time there than they envisioned.

Related Post: i29 Updates Classical Interiors of Landmarked Enlightenment Building in Amsterdam

Sigma: paintwork (stairwell)

kvadrat: acoustic wall fabric (living room)

Aleksandra Gaca: pillow fabric (reading room, living room)

norR11: lounge chair, ottoman (living room)

maruni: chairs (kitchen)

concraft: concrete flooring

quooker: sink fittings

blumenberg: custom tub, custom sink (bathroom)

glas xl: two-way mirror

water revolution: taps

Foscarini: pendant lights

schneinder interieurbouw: custom furniture and woodwork

seasons parket: oak flooring

G.K. Visbeen & Co: general contractor

kodde: restoration architect

Tom Postma Design Conceives of Galleries as Movements in a Symphony for This Ludwig van Beethoven Exhibition in Vienna

2021 Best of Year winner for Exhibition

In this Ludwig van Beethoven exhibition designed by Tom Postma Design, mounted at the palatial 19th-century museum last year, the great composer’s portrait appeared nowhere. But visitors could stick their head into a John Baldessari ear-trumpet sculpture in the stairwell and listen to his string quartets. With the show, the Amsterdam studio, which has made a name for itself designing the exhibition plans for such art fairs as TEFAF and Art Basel, crosses mediums and eras to connect music with other art forms. Conceived as movements in a symphony, the four traditional galleries it occupied were totally transformed. Like the composer, “Our aim was for the exhibit to be radical yet poetic,” design director Dani Mileo says. In the first room, keyboard sonatas played, layers of white fabric draped overhead, and all was serene—that is, until Rebecca Horn’s suspended upside-down piano spewed discordant sounds, a surrogate for Beethoven’s temper. Evoking his loss of hearing, the next room was silent and somber, with thick carpet to dampen footsteps and walls clad in fiber-cement panels, while the third room’s blue stretched-fabric walls, mirror-finished floor, and J.M.W. Turner watercolor sketches explored his relationship with nature. To separate the spaces acoustically, Tom Postma Design worked with Platform 78 to devise tunnelike portals lined with sound-absorbing pyramid foam, which functioned as auditory palate cleansers between galleries.

Tom Postma Design: Dani Mileo; Joris Nielander; Roel Smit; Sharon Van Wezel; Rachid Abu Hassan

Architect Cécilia Gross Discusses the Lasting Impact of her Sustainable Projects

Born in France, Gross is collaborating with the French firm Ateliers 2/3/4 on the 2024 Olympic Games Aquatics Centre in Paris. Along with its innovative timber framework, another of the facility’s green features will be its upcycled seating, manu­factured from plastic waste collected by Parisian youth as part of a civic engagement program. “It’s making the future gener­ation more sensitive to sustainability by inviting them to con­tri­bute to this exceptional building in their city,” she explains. We spoke with the architect about the role that design can play in improving our environmental footprint.

Interior Design: You describe Het Platform as a “micro city.” How do you define that concept?

Cécilia Gross: It starts with walking, which is really the basis of a good life in a neighborhood. There are a lot of things we shouldn’t have to move so far to get—food, for one. But it’s not only about providing stuff. Walking is also a healthy way to move, and it’s a good way to meet people. In the Netherlands, we’re crazy about cycling, but when you slow down, you experience more of the social aspects of the city. Of course, having Het Platform so close to a public transport hub allows people also to extend their lives further using green mobility. It’s a balance.

ID: Another Het Platform innovation is its steel structure. How does that improve the ecological footprint?

CG: The city’s original plan was to put a concrete table structure—a big plate with thick pillars—above the tram lines. We proposed an alternative solution that integrates layers of lightweight 3D steel trusses, which cut the amount of concrete and steel we needed in half. That back-and-forth during the design process is very important. Confronting a vision together with everybody around the table leads to smarter and more sustainable solutions. In this case, the steel construction becomes part of the experience of the building.

ID: Its rooftop gardens consider more than just people. What’s your approach to these green spaces?

CG: As an office, we are driven to see the planet as a whole. If something looks nice but is going to destroy us in the long-term, forget about it. When it comes to landscaping, our work is not about simple greenwashing, but about providing enough ground to allow plants to actually grow, and choosing plants that support insects and birds to promote biodiversity. Humans are one species, but not the only one. This was a site where there had been nothing green, so every little piece that we added with our landscape architect, Studio LandLab, was a real chance to improve the ecosystem. Now we’ll have to see in 10 or 20 years what it brings.

ID: You recently unveiled a proposal for a web of hexagonal photovoltaic panels made of ultra­light film that could be installed over a Dutch motorway to help with butterfly migration. What drove you to develop that idea?

CG: From research, we found that the air currents from traffic disrupt insect migration, but when there’s a traffic jam and the air is still, they’re able to cross the highway, reproduce, and help with pollination. Our concept follows the whole idea of the butterfly effect: Start small and then get the ball rolling. That’s why we’re designers—to explore something that sounds logical, and to make it attractive. To get people to accept change, you need to make it beautiful. It’s the same with solar panels. To be honest, they can be very ugly when they’re just solid panels next to each other. But the aesthetics are what we love about Solar Solarix’s modular photovoltaic film, which we’re working with on the project. To innovate, you need to try. Build a program, then analyze, evaluate, and improve.

ID: The Aquatics Centre is the only new building Paris is introducing for the 2024 Olympic Games. How have approaches to large sports venues changed?

CG: Big event venues are at a turning point, especially since we just finished an Olympic Games without a public audience. We designed this as a sports complex for the neighborhood first, and then we thought about how to transform it for this amazing two-week event as well. That involves some compromises—maybe during the games something feels a little smaller than it could have—but the legacy of the project was the most important. What’s exciting is that the Olympics will give it a chance to touch a wider public, and I think that’s one of the real targets of sustainable architecture—to get people more involved. Hopefully that’s the magic of the project.