Reverted loft

Marc Koehler Architects designed a single family house on two floors reverting the standard layouts, putting the bedrooms downstairs and the living spaces upstairs.

Marc Koehler Architects, Lofthouse I, Amsterdam, 2016
In the corner house designed by Marc Koehler Architects all floors are interconnected in a continuous flow. The house takes maximum advantage of the exceptional views of its rugged, industrial environment. Loft House 1 is the first implementation of a series of durable, wooden loft houses. 

 

The house is based on a reversed principle: its owners decided to sleep downstairs and live upstairs. This allows them to fully enjoy the views of the harbour from the kitchen, the lounge and the dining room. The owners’ wish was to connect the areas on the upper floors with the lower floors in one, continuous flow.

Marc Koehler Architects, Lofthouse I, Amsterdam, 2016
Marc Koehler Architects, Lofthouse I, Amsterdam, 2016
A solution was found by incorporating a staircase that serves as an atrium becoming a central design element. The atrium has been designed so that each vertical walk becomes an attractive adventure. Another classification principle was the split-level structure: each floor is half a floor higher or lower in relation to the previous or the next. This allows the owners to look easily from one floor to the other creating a gradual transition from one floor to the next, unlike the clean break between each floor in a standard terraced house. 
Marc Koehler Architects, Lofthouse I, Amsterdam, 2016
Marc Koehler Architects, Lofthouse I, Amsterdam, 2016
The wooden structure serves as a framework in which floors can be installed in any position, giving the entire house a flexible layout. In addition, the prefab wooden structure shortens the construction period considerably, to just six months. The construction of the prefab elements in a closed workshop took two only weeks, and assembly at the building site took no more than four days. The Loft House is a completely climate-neutral home. The PV panels on the roof, a CO2-controlled ventilation system, mechanical extraction, underfloor heating and a collective heat grid ensure that this home’s energy consumption is kept to a minimum.

Lofthouse I, Amsterdam,The Netherlands
Program: single family house
Architects: Marc Koehler Architects
Team: Marc Koehler, Chun Hin Leung, Hugo Vermeer, Carlota Alvarado, Mariana Rebelo Fernandes, Marijn Luijmes
Contractor: J.S. Siemensma B.V.
Consultant: Breed Integrated Design
Completion: 2016

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