Since it was unveiled in 2009, Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat’s The Rock tower has struck a distinctive pose, its angular bulk a head-turning addition to Amsterdam’s southern Zuidas skyline. And now, office drones from the neighbourhood’s haul of MNCs and institutions – including VU University Amsterdam – have an equally distinctive watering hole in which to gather for a stylish bite.
For the new outpost of local favourite café chain Lebkov & Sons, the Paris-based Studio Akkerhuis has created a concrete space that is styled as a domestic kitchen and living room, its open plan filled with light and demarcated into zones by the strategic placement of modular steel cubes that act as shelves and room dividers, communal tables and long angular benches.
The centrepiece of the industrial-lite space is a huge coffee bar and open kitchen whose base is clad in a crumpled creamy black and white crossed tessellation made of wooden panels engraved with light crosses – the effect calls to mind an oversized Issey Miyake Baobao bag - by Milan-based company Wood-Skin.
The menu offerings are, as one might expect, no-nonsense in the spread of coffee, sandwiches, daily soups, cakes juices, with quotidian bestsellers including the Kenyan filtered Joe and a house-baked lemon poppy-seed cake.
ADDRESS
Claude Debussylaan 130
-
A new Oxford Street pop-up celebrates IKEA's blue bagsIKEA's iconic blue bag gets its own pop-up concept store, the 'Hus of Frakta'.
-
Audemars Piguet and Kaws have created the Royal Oak Concept watch we didn't know we neededThe Audemars Piguet x Kaws Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon 'Companion' is slick wrist-worn art
-
A friendly rivalry coloured by kinship: Wendy Maruyama and Tom Loeser on their two-artist show'I wanted to make furniture, just not traditional furniture, but weird furniture,' says Wendy Maruyama on ‘Colorama’, a two-artist show presented at design gallery Superhouse (until 11 January 2025)
-
Tour Hotel de L’Europe’s new ’t Huys suites, quirky spaces by Amsterdam’s top creativesAmsterdam’s Hotel de L’Europe introduces whimsical suites by fashion designer Ronald van der Kemp, jewellery designer Bibi van der Velden, creative studio D/DOCK and more
-
Pulitzer Amsterdam’s whimsical new suites and a wellness space add to its canalside chicIn line with the city’s 750th anniversary, Pulitzer Amsterdam introduces two new Collector’s Suites, a three-storey Merchant Suite, and The Beauty House
-
Carmen Amsterdam is an ever-evolving treasure trove of experiencesCarmen Amsterdam is set within two mid-17th-century canal houses and features a shop, a café and a guesthouse
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico -
Martim — Wroclaw, Poland -
Tattersalls Hotel — Armidale, Australia -
KLoé Hotel — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -
Casa Hoyos — San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
