House IJburg

The most wonderful in a room is the light that comes through the window of the room. The sun never knew how great it was before a room was built – Louis Khan

This beautiful quote is mentioned on Rocha Tombal‘s website, the architects of this amazing House IJburg, located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Ana Rocha and Michel Tombal are masters of light, which is something that any house in the rainy Netherlands is craving for, most of the year.

Paradoxical to the closed façade (which I really love, such a bold statement!), the house really embraces natural light.

Through the careful placement of windows and walls, each floor and room has its own light intensity: very light on the ground floor, slightly darker on the first and second floor, and again bathing in light on the top floor.

Almost a shame to add furniture!

  1. david
    10.03.10 21:28

    …too minimal.
    this is not minimal: it’s empty!

  2. Maarten
    10.03.10 23:27

    Yep, still empty.

  3. i love minimalism
    11.03.10 04:27

    it’s amazing. i wonder what the design process was like. it always amazes me when people craft something like this, it’s truly inspirational.

  4. chris
    11.03.10 05:42

    not minimal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boring

  5. Steward
    11.03.10 09:02

    Well argumented Chris!

  6. David
    11.03.10 12:10

    In one of the most beautiful Brian Eno’s Oblique Stategies he says: “enhances a virgin space with a frame.” This is what I mean as the true essence of minimalism. The light use in this creates the perfect “boundary conditions” to delineate a “beautiful even if empty” space, “alive even if not yet lived”. Moreover an architecture is “a frame of life situations” and this is a frame where I would like to live. Very minimal for me…

  7. Maarten
    11.03.10 13:31

    Wow David, thanks for sharing those great quotes! I think Brian Eno says it well.

  8. vincenzo
    11.03.10 18:38

    FANTASTIC

  9. chris
    12.03.10 00:53

    still not convinced!!!……Perhaps its not minimal for me….not a exciting piece of architecture……….” Brian Eno ” quotes are nice!…….but not the above piece of architecture…they are just pretentious spaces that could not claim any meaning with light!

    ” a frame of life situations ” I would never quote for these spaces! Perhaps Adjaye Ed’s shed or Liz Diller’s “cantilever media tech” for me are nice examples

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