Witteveen Architects: The Canal House
The Canal House is an impressive conversion project by Witteveen Architects including a bathroom en-suite that fills up with water by using the innovative HI-MACS® material.
With such an overwhelming response to an image that I posted on the Canal House design, you have been contacting me in your thousands to find out more about this incredible project. With over nine million people already viewing this project across my platforms, I am incredibly excited to show you the full Canal House project, completely renovated by HI-MACS® Quality Club Member Houthwerk BV, based on a design by Witteveen Architects.
The entire property has been renovated and modernised to a very high standard, whilst still highlighting its incredible character and industrial style features. Beautiful natural wood floors can be seen throughout the property, complimented by the exposed brickwork and industrial style black metal. The final material of choice is a unique material, allowing the design to have particular features unlike any other. This material is HI-MACS®, a solid surface material that can be moulded into any shape, in the Canal House it adds the minimalist clean lines and white surfaces throughout.
Before we see the full capabilities of this diverse surface, I wanted to take you through some of the other stunning details of this project. A double staircase stand side by side, divided only by a wall. Each staircase takes you through to a different part of the house, leading up to the gorgeous suspended industrial walkway. This beautiful metal finish creates such a feature across the main living space, adding a striking contrast and a visual cut across the room. The metal steps back to allow the original features and decorative designs of the supporting columns to take a central focus.
To create a visual divide between the kitchen area and the rest of the living space, and understandably for hygiene reasons of a kitchen, we see a change in materials used. The natural wooden flooring gives way to a clean and glossy HI-MACS® finish, whilst the rest of the surfaces are presented in that classic modern stainless steel finish that we have all grown to love in the kitchen.
Keeping in reference to the industrial style is the selection of lighting pendants that you can see in the dining space and hallway. Both created beautiful features, drawing the lighting down across the table in the dining area and acting as a sculptural work of art and focal point in the hallway.
As we make our way into the bedroom we are greeted by a dual-level space, centred around a full-height window which floods the space with light. What I particularly love about this space is the use of another visual divide. The top-level continues the flow of natural wood, white surfaces and industrial metal features as you are directed to the shower, bathroom and walk-in wardrobe. As you make your way down into the bedroom area, there is a contrast of dark woods used with a minimalist approach to storage used, integrating it into the bedside walls. I love the openness of this space, it creates a beautiful flow and an unobstructed view of the outside world.
The feature that really sells this space is the bathroom. As I mentioned before, the below image has been viewed over nine million times already on my social media. This phenomenal space and concept were only possible because of the incredible use of HI-MACS®. Moulding the material to a room or space creates the perfect waterproof surface perfect for bathrooms, allowing for limitless and very creative opportunities. It is fascinating to see just how one material can transform a space as it has done with the Canal House. By combining innovative materials with elegance in design, the Canal House in Amsterdam is definitely one of the most unique and outstanding designs I have encountered.
