ATELIER KOLLER - Liberate the kitchen, The Hague/NL

kitchen design © AK

Liberate the kitchen, The Hague/NL

What was once a small kitchen hidden under a mezzanine has become a modern, functional, open space complementing the adjacent bright and spacious living-dining area. [...]

summerhouse back garden © AK

Ready for the garden party, The Hague/NL

The 4-story mansion is situated in the Archipelbuurt neighborhood of The Hague, opposite a row of listed historical buildings. The owners of the house wanted to rearrange the garden completely. [...]

bathroom extension © AK

A Bathtub with a view, The Hague/NL

The owner wanted to expand the bathroom integrating a part of the existing terrasse. The owner wanted  to expand the bathroom integrating a part of the existing terrasse. A well placed bathtub becomes the key furniture in the new arrangement. [...]

extension master bedroom garden © AK

Sleeping in the garden, The Hague/NL

The apartment for this three-person household is situated on the ground floor of a brick residential building dating from the late 1960s. Atelier Koller put forth the idea of a full transformation, keeping only the closet, bathroom and toilet in their original places in the apartment.

living area © Luuk Smits

   

Making it tidy, The Hague/NL

The apartment on the first floor has a bow window on the street side which becomes a little balcony on the 3^rd floor. The first floor is characterized by a long volume stretching from the street right through to the green courtyard with the private gardens. The second floor is used for sleeping and working rooms.  [...]

espace de bureau © JDA + AK

Modernization and extension - French school Lycée van Gogh, The Hague/NL
Atelier Koller and Jasper Deurloo Architect were able to win the consultation for the reorganization of the entrance and the creation of an administrative and financial center of the French school Vincent van Gogh in The Hague, The Netherlands. [...]

         

             espace de vie Rotterdam © AK

Creation of a new living space, Rotterdam/NL

In this apartment in the North of Rotterdam, the demising wall between the dining room and the kitchen was demolished in order to create a new space for cooking, eating and working with a central kitchen island. [...]

 mezzanine © Anne Wright

Construction of a mezzanine, The Hague/NL

The children's room is situated on the ground floor of a historical building in the Statenkwartier, an elegant residential quarter in The Hague. The room profits from a ceiling height of approximately 320 cm, which made it possible to install a mezzanine in the first place. [...]

espace de vie Den Haag © AK

Extension of the living space, The Hague/NL

By demolishing several demising walls in this apartment in the Segbroek quarter in De Hague an open loft-like floor plan was created filling the living spaces with a beautiful luminosity. [...]

media center ESH © AK

Refurbishment of the library and media center - European School The Hague/NL

The study aimed to elaborate the most efficient though informal layout for the equipment which needs to be accommodated in order to structure the space and to anticipate the future growth of the school. [...]

 salle de classe Lycée van Gogh © AK

Refurbishment of the service accommodation at the Lycee van Gogh, The Hague/NL
To conceive a new class room for 24 students at the Lycee van Gogh in the Hague, the adjacent service accommodation from 1994 needed to be redesigned. [...]

salle de réunion Lycée van Gogh © AK

Aménagement salle de réunion - Lycée Van Gogh, The Hague/NL
Pour des raisons fonctionnelles et esthétiques, le maître d’ouvrage souhaite un nouvel aménagement de cet espace pour y faire également des vidéoconférences. La salle doit servir aussi de salle de réception lors de rencontres avec les différents représentants de l'état français et des partenaires du lycée. Les murs peuvent donc servir d'expositions temporaires. [...]

amphithéâtre Lycée van Gogh © AK

Aménagement amphithéâtre - Lycée Van Gogh, The Hague/NL
The study presents a modernization of the existing auditorium of the Lycée van Gogh in The Hague, auditorium which is part of the new library and IT area designed by Atelier Koller. [...]

ÖBDH © AK

Modernization of residence of the Austrian Embassy, The Hague/NL
The multi-storey residence of the Austrian Embassy in The Hague is located in a prominent address near the train station "Den Haag Centraal". [...]

médiathéque LvG © HD Maatwerk Interieur

Mediatheque - French school Lycée van Gogh, The Hague/NL

For this interior project in the Lycée van Gogh in The Hague the former library and his annexes like the computer class room and several offices needed to be transformed into an inviting study environment that incoroperates digital education tools. [...]

cuisine Den Haag © AK

Refurbishment of a kitchen in The Hague/NL

The kitchen of this three room apartment in the city center of The Hague turned out to be very small in comparison with the generous layout of the adjacent living room. It did not correspond any more to the needs of the owner and was old and inefficient. The client wanted to have a newer and more functional kitchen, with more storage and working areas. [...]

hôtel de ville © Yaron Tam

Competition Hôtel de ville Gembloux/BE

The Belgium town of Gembloux is impeded in a city network between Brussels, Leuven, Namur and Charleroi, with all cities lying within a range of 45 km. In order to strengthen the city's position in this area our study proposed to re-qualify its city centre around the new Hôtel de Ville. [...]

ATELIER KOLLER - Liberate the kitchen, The Hague/NL

LIBERATE THE KITCHEN

What was once a small kitchen hidden under a mezzanine has become a modern, functional, open space complementing the adjacent bright and spacious living-dining area. The old kitchen had served its time and no longer satisfied the functional or space-related expectations and necessities of the owners. Storage space was sorely lacking, the ergonomics of the furniture were outdated, and the whole design was straight out of another era.

As foodies and avid home cooks, the owners envisioned a space that would be much more functional and open. This way, when preparing meals, one would be able to participate in the discussions going on in the living area. The idea of a kitchen island, where the cooks face the double height living space was the most obvious solution. On account of the mezzanine housing the library and TV room on the floor above, the kitchen ceiling height could not be altered. By breaking down the enclosing walls, however, it was enlarged and felt less restricted, and uses the available space more efficiently.

The old kitchen layout and a certain number of electrical and plumbing installations dictated the base for the new arrangement. The system and position of cabinetry changed completely. As a result of the low ceiling, no upper cupboards were installed. To compensate, custom-made ceiling-height cupboards line the walls: the refrigerator, microwave, oven, food storage and boiler could therefore be hidden away. Shallower cabinets were installed not only to mask vertical installation shafts, but serve to store home appliances like the toaster, coffee machine, blender, etc.

Hints of color accent the homogeneous white and shiny surfaces of the cabinets and ceiling. Color features specifically in the black handles, the smooth black stone countertop and the blue-grey glass backsplash walls behind the sink and the cooktop.

The idea of a kitchen island was the guiding element of this redesign. A decision was made to rebuild part of the former wall separating the kitchen visually from the living room. By doing so, the cooktop could be protected so that no cooking oil could splatter on the wooden floors, for example. Relocating the sink to the very back and darkest part of the new kitchen shields this typically messy area from view. Four lines of small LED spots in the ceiling illuminate all parts of the kitchen in a homogeneous way and provide adequate light for work areas, drawers and cabinets.

The owners were intent on keeping the hardwood floor, which extends into the living room. A parquet layer was used to repair the existing floor and new oak pieces were added where needed. A surface treatment was applied in a way that blends the new boards into the pattern of the old ones.

As a result of these design changes, the kitchen now looks like a huge built-in element fully integrated to the living area.

FICHE TECHNIQUE / PROJECT DATA
lieu / location: Schilderswijk, La Haye, Pays Bas / The Hague, The Netherlands
maître d'ouvrage / client: privé / privat
maître d'oeuvre / architecture: Atelier Koller, La Haye / Atelier Koller, The Hague

missions / design phases: Esquisse (ESQ) - Assistance aux opérations de réception (AOR) / Schematic Design (SD) - Construction Administration (CA)
menuisier / furniture maker: Woodlabs, Waddinxveen (www.woodlabs.nl)
parquet / hardwood floor: Alert Parket B.V., Monster (www.alertparket.nl)

ATELIER KOLLER - Ready for the garden party, The Hague/NL

READY FOR THE GARDEN PARTY
This 4-story mansion is situated in the Archipelbuurt neighborhood of The Hague, opposite a row of listed historical buildings. The home, with its richly decorated facades and high ceilings, has a small front garden and a back garden of about 115 m2. This back garden is accessible from the basement, which was renovated and transformed during an initial phase of renovations. Now, the owners wanted to rearrange the garden completely. Paved partly with dark red brick and otherwise covered with patches of lawn, plants and bushes, the new garden grounds will take on a much more mineral feel with a summerhouse built up against the back of the property.

The summerhouse, a 3-meter-high structure, consists of two parts:
- an enclosed bicycle shed (with storage space for garden furniture) with a back door that gives direct access to the street through a small alley, and
- a covered dining area with a grill and an outdoor kitchen, completely open to the garden.

The project was also seen as an opportunity to replace the unstable wooden fence separating the property from the neighboring plot on one side. An elegant, strong white stone wall was planned in its place. At the same time, the brick wall on the other side would be renovated and restored.

                                        
The timber frame construction of the summerhouse spans the entire width of the garden. The wooden beams of the slightly inclined roof were left exposed, so that they are visible from underneath. Five roof windows frame the view onto the back façade of the main house. Cedar is used for all woodwork: the beams, the plywood for the ceiling, the slats for the wooden screen of the shed, and the benches incorporated along the new wall.

To make entertaining easier for guests and friends, the owners decided on a rather hard, mineral aggregate concrete flooring that is simple to maintain. It links the new outdoor kitchen in the summerhouse to the guest’s kitchen in the basement.

                                             

Vegetation plays an important role in the new design: plants and the lawn in the old set-up have been cleared to leave room for a green roof, colorful trees and bushes behind the benches. Ornamental plants peek from behind the arcades, while trailing plants hang down between the arches.

The white color of this wall contrasts with the aged red-brown brick wall in the background. This new decorative wall also fulfills a stabilizing function and acts as a long planter for flora and foliage of all types. Two fountains made out of grey basalt complete the backdrop for a perfect garden party.

FICHE TECHNIQUE / PROJECT DATA
lieu / location: Archipelbuurt, La Haye, Pays Bas / The Hague, The Netherlands
maître d'ouvrage / client: privé / privat
maître d'oeuvre / architecture: Atelier Koller, La Haye / Atelier Koller, The Hague

missions / design phases: Esquisse (ESQ) - Assistance aux opérations de réception (AOR) / Schematic Design (SD) - Construction Administration (CA)

ingénieur de structure / structural engineer: Bouwadviesbureau van der Ven, Ridderkerk (www.vd-ven.nl)

entreprise général / general contractor: Marbuilt, Den Haag (www.marbuilt.com)

ATELIER KOLLER - A bathtub with a view, The Hague/NL

A BATHTUB WITH A VIEW

This two-story apartment is located in the “Segbroekkwartier” district, a neighborhood close to the center of The Hague. It occupies the first and second floor of a typical Dutch townhouse.

The first floor is designed as a loft-like, barrier free living area with the living and dining room and an adjacent office space. The open kitchen also gives occupants access to a large roof terrace on the back side of the house, which overlooks the green inner courtyard of the long residential block. The upper floor, on the contrary, is divided into two large bedrooms and one small with bath.

Given the size of the apartment and the number of bedrooms, the owner wanted to expand the bathroom, equipped with a shower, a sink and the toilet. The west-facing terrasse on the back of the house, accessible from the master bedroom, is hardly used, as the woodwork, door and window frames are in a rather bad state.

Subsequently, Atelier Koller made a proposal to integrate a part of the terrace into the bathroom.

The new layout shows a preview of a small, L-shaped balcony. In the new, more spacious arrangement, a large bathtub is positioned right in front of a glass window spanning the entire height of the room, complete with a large glass sliding door to draw one’s eye from inside the bathroom to the outside. The bathroom has been reorganized to keep only the toilet and the shower. Beside the bathtub, the remodel made room for a double sink, a washing machine, and a dryer.

Cedar slat cladding encompasses the entire volume of the extension. This creates an exterior screen, which together with a curtain on the inside of the bathroom, guarantees the necessary privacy for inhabitants. At the same time, the wooden cladding recalls to the wood frame construction of the remodeled extension. A roof overhang above the remaining balcony protects the wooden joinery from rain and serves as natural protection from the sun. It also extends the protected interior spaces visually towards the outside.

FICHE TECHNIQUE / PROJECT DATA
lieu / location: Segbroekkwartier, La Haye, Pays Bas / The Hague, The Netherlands
maître d'ouvrage / client: privé / privat
maître d'oeuvre / architecture: Atelier Koller, La Haye / Atelier Koller, The Hague

ingénieur de structures / structural engineer: Bouwadviesbureau van der Ven, Ridderkerk (www.vd-ven.nl)
missions / design phases: Esquisse (ESQ) - Projet d’exécution (PRO) + Permis de construire / Schematic Design (SD) - Construction Documents (CD) + building permit

ATELIER KOLLER - Making it tidy, The Hague/NL

MAKING IT TIDY

The Statenkwartier is a living quarter slightly out of the city center, home of many expats due to its comfortable living qualities, its infrastructure and several museums located around extended parks and intensively planted canals.

The apartment on the first floor has a bow window on the street side which becomes a little balcony on the 3rd floor.

The first floor is characterized, like in many of the typical Dutch upper floor houses, by a long volume stretching from the street right through to the green courtyard with the private gardens. The second floor is used for sleeping and working rooms.

cut down to the essential © Luuk Smits

The new owners of the apartment wanted to replace the existing heating system with the radiators along the exterior walls by a floor heating system. Doing so a floor insulation between the wooden floor beams on the 1st floor was introduced to minimize the sound transmission towards the neighbor on the ground floor. At the same time all the existing floors were changed into new wooden floors in the living areas and in the corridors.

the dining area on the 1st floor © Luuk Smits

The kitchen, which was refurbished previously, was kept unchanged. The main changes were brought into all the sanitary rooms: the toilets on both floors were retiled and equipped with Japanese toilets. The former bathroom on the upper floor was divided into a shower with a washbasin on one side and a storage room on the other. One of the two small sleeping rooms on the backside of the house was transformed into a luxury, well-lit bathroom with a bathtub underneath the window, a shower and a washbasin. Changing the heating system was also the occasion to insulate the exterior walls in the rooms on the front and the backside of the house.

towards the living area on the 1st floor © Luuk Smits

To gain some extra space in the eating room and the master bedroom above, it was decided to demolish the old chimney, while the one in the living room and the guest room above was maintained.

Except for the 3m2 balcony in front of the kitchen on the backside of the house there was no outdoor space on the second floor. Not being able to make a new terrasse as an extension of the dining area, it was decided to replace the existing windows by a new window front with two, wide opening doors in the middle and a railing on the outside.

the main bathroom on the 2nd floor © Luuk Smits

In order to use the existing roof space of the flat roof and to profit from the view a roof terrasse was introduced. To support the new extra loads the wooden roof beams on the second floor were doubled with the ceilings in all rooms rebuilt. This was the occasion to rethink and redo the electricity system and the light systems in all the rooms on both floors.

the hallway on the 2nd floor © Luuk Smits

FICHE TECHNIQUE / PROJECT DATA

lieu / location: Statenkwartier, La Haye, Pays Bas / The Hague, The Netherlands
maître d'ouvrage / client: privé / privat
maître d'oeuvre / architecture: Atelier Koller, La Haye / Atelier Koller, The Hague

missions / design phases: Esquisse (ESQ) - Assistance aux opérations de réception (AOR) / Schematic Design (SD) - Construction Administration (CA)
entreprise général / general contractor: Marbuilt, Den Haag (www.marbuilt.com)

ATELIER KOLLER - Réaménagement de l’entrée et extension Lycée français Vincent van Gogh, La Haye/NL

le nouvel espace de bureau/ the new work space © Jasper Deurloo Architect et Atelier Koller

   Atelier Koller et Jasper Deurloo Architect ont gagné la consultation pour le réaménagement de l’entrée et la création d’un pôle administratif et financier du lycée français Vincent van Gogh de La Haye au Pays-Bas.

   Atelier Koller and Jasper Deurloo Architect were able to win the consultation for the reorganization of the entrance and the creation of an administrative and financial center of the French school Vincent van Gogh in The Hague, The Netherlands.

DEUX IDÉES CLAIRES ET FORTES

Pour des raisons de fonctionnement, l’entrée du lycée français van Gogh de La Haye doit être repensée, modernisée et réaménagée. C’est l’occasion pour la direction de relocaliser certains bureaux dans l’espace existant et de faire construire une extension pour accueillir le pôle financier de l’école qui a été construit en 1994.

Le projet consiste en deux parties :  

   L’aménagement de l‘entrée prévoit la séparation des flux des élèves de ceux des visiteurs, l’installation d’un accès aux personnes à mobilité réduite ainsi que la création d’un salon de visiteurs, un espace de confidentialité pour les rencontres entre parents et professeurs et un nouveau bureau des associations de parents.

     La nouvelle extension consiste en un volume simple, spacieux, lumineux et aéré avec un espace de travail de type open space au centre. Elle accueillera également un bureau fermé pour le/la responsable de la direction administrative et financière et une salle de réunion pour 8 à 10 personnes. Cette extension permet de retravailler les liaisons visuelles et fonctionnelles entre l’école élémentaire et le lycée, ainsi qu’un travail sur la luminosité et sur la transparence en installant de grandes baies vitrées le long du gymnase adjacent, situé en contre-bas.

TWO CLEAR AND STRONG IDEAS

To enhance the functioning, the entrance of the French high school Van Gogh in The Hague must be redesigned, modernized and refitted. This is an opportunity for the direction to relocate some offices in the existing space and to build an extension to accommodate the financial department of the school which was built in 1994.

The project consists of two parts:

   The new layout of the entrance allows the separation of the student flows from those of visitors and the installation of an access for persons with reduced mobility. Furthermore, it permits the creation of a visitors' lounge, a confidentiality space for meetings between parents and teachers and a new parent association office.

   The new extension consists of a simple, spacious, bright and airy volume with an open space work space in the center. It will also host a closed office space for the administrative and financial director and a meeting room for 8 to 10 people. This extension allows to reestablish the visual and functional connection between the elementary school and the high school. It equally indulges a work on brightness and transparency by installing large windows along the adjacent gymnasium, which is located one level further down.

Atelier Koller

Jasper Deurloo Architect

ATELIER KOLLER - Aménagement espace de vie, Rotterdam/NL

le nouvel espace de vie / the new living area © Michael Koller

S’ouvrir

L’espace de vie avec le séjour, la cuisine et la salle à manger se situe au 2^ème étage d’une maison de ville de trois étages au total, maison en bande des années 1930 dans le quartier nommé Bergpolder au nord du centre de Rotterdam. L’appartement en question se situe au 2ème et 3ème étage.  A l’étage supérieur de cet appartement d’une largeur d’à peine de 4, 85 m et d’une hauteur de 2,70 m sous plafond se trouvent trois chambres et la salle de bain.

Pour faciliter la circulation du couloir très étroit vers la cuisine ainsi que vers les toilettes, l’architecte a proposé de supprimer deux petits sas, d’inverser la direction d’ouverture de la porte des toilettes et d’installer une porte coulissante pour la cuisine.

l'ancien couloir I the old hallway © Michael Koller

Le propriétaire a souhaité ouvrir la salle à manger vers la cuisine pour créer ainsi un ilot central et une cuisine plus grande de style cuisine américaine. Le mur séparatif entre les deux pièces a été ainsi supprimé et les charges de l’étage supérieur et du toit repris par un système de poutrelles en acier.

L’ilot central et les armoires en toute hauteur ont permis de créer des rangements et un plan de travail supplémentaires et de rendre la cuisine plus spacieuse et plus fonctionnelle. Aujourd’hui ce nouvel espace pour cuisiner, manger et travailler se caractérise par une belle luminosité et une vue très large sur le balcon et la cour intérieure du bloc.

le nouveau couloir I the new hallway © Michael Koller

Open up

The living area with the living room, the kitchen and the dining room is located on the second floor of a historical three-storey townhouse of the 1930's. It is situated in the Bergpolder district in the north of the center of Rotterdam. The apartment occupies the 2nd and 3rd floor of the building. On the upper floor of this apartment – the building is barely 4, 85 m wide and the sealings 2,70 m high – one can find three bedrooms and a bathroom.

To facilitate the circulation from the very narrow corridor into the kitchen and to the toilets on the lower level, the architect proposed to remove two small intermedia spaces. Furthermore, the opening direction of the toilet door was reversed as well as a sliding door installed between the kitchen and the hallway.

la cuisine américaine / the central kitchen island © Michael Koller

The owner wished to open the dining room towards the kitchen in order to create a central kitchen island and a larger cooking space. The demising wall between the two rooms was thus demolished and the loads of the upper floor and the roof diverged by a system of steel joists. 

The central island and the new cabinets along the wall have created additional storage spaces and a supplementary work surfaces. They make the kitchen in its whole more spacious and functional. Today this new space for cooking, eating and working is characterized by a beautiful light incidence and a wide view towards the balcony and the inner courtyard of the block.

la porte coulissante et les nouveaux armoires / the sliding door and the new cabinets © Michael Koller

FICHE TECHNIQUE / PROJECT DATA

lieu / location: Bergpolder, Rotterdam / Rotterdam, Pays-Bas / The Netherlands

maître d'ouvrage / client: privé / privat

maître d'oeuvre / architecture: Atelier Koller, La Haye / The Hague

ingénieur de structures / structural engineer: Bouwadviesbureau van der Ven, Ridderkerk (www.vd-ven.nl)

entreprise générale / general contractor: Rosche B.V., Hoogvliet (www.roschebv.nl)