When a client of me got fed up of us renovating his house, and of all the things that were going wrong, he decided to throw in a standard staircase (alongside a large number of other things that needed to be hurried along). Since we are extremely busy, I didn’t actually mind if there were some things that we didn’t have to make. However, the design for the staircase had already become more and more a brainchild and a dissertation, and had long ceased to be just an ordinary staircase. I even called it art, just to emphasise the necessity of realising the staircase.
Luckily, we were finally allowed to construct the staircase, and since then, the first staircase, from cellar to attic, is almost completed. It’s actually not all that special, just an open staircase with glass. However, the combination of materials and the detailing give it an almost surrealistic appearance: the oak wood is classical, the openness of the glass is modern, and the transparency makes it possible to look both into the cellar and into the first floor.
The Jan van der Ploeg works being shown here gave me the idea to ask him to make murals which emphasise the link between the various levels. This connection is important to me because the house actually consists of two houses which are also linked from left to right. The renovation and the staircase have taken the ‘semi’ out of this semi-detached house.
Photography: Thomas Mayer
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