ADEMINADEMUIT

Redevelopment of former Van der Schoot building

Ademinademuit breathes new life into a masculine Art Deco building where a DIY store used to be located. Now a collective atrium houses a hairdressers, a boutique and a beauty salon. A new hairdo can lead to a new outfit and a beauty treatment to a new hair tint. Instead of separate areas the program is shaped by the furniture, whereby the three enterprises can be interwoven in a spatial sense. Washing a clients hair and massaging the scalp is an activity that should be experienced in complete relaxation; preferably in a comfortable soft chair. The result is an enormous lounge chair entirely covered with resilient rubber. The chair is so soft and so large that two people can sit in it and have their hair washed while two others can lie and relax on the arm rests.

The basic premise was that all the walls would remain free, but this was impracticable when installing a toilet. The toilet on the second floor is situated against the rear wall while the toilet space is two meters away. when using the toilet bowl the toilet unit slides over the bowl by means of a tunnel. seven tilt-and-turn hairstlysts mirrors together form a voyeurs machine that disperses glimpses in a kaleidoscopic manner, recapturing them in an unexpected corner.

The fitting rooms in the boutique are slotted in the atrium and they are surrounded by two-meter-high fabric chutes. No one can escape noticing the raising and lowering of the curtains, whereby the transformation on show can easily be judged by the critical expressions of the other clients.