Long layovers usually mean seas of identical metal chairs, bright signage, and constant motion that makes rest feel impossible. Even premium lounges often feel like slightly nicer waiting rooms, not places with a point of view beyond arranging seating in rows. Schiphol’s Lounge 2 sits in the flat Haarlemmermeer polder outside Amsterdam, which gave Beyond Space a specific landscape and design history to work with when redesigning the 1,000 square meter space.
The studio looked at that polder and the Dutch De Stijl movement it inspired, particularly Mondrian’s orthogonal paintings. His late Boogie-Woogie works are essentially abstractions of that landscape, grids of lines and colored planes forming rhythmic compositions. Beyond Space took those paintings as an organizing principle, using sequences of orthogonal lines and planes to define where and how people sit instead of just dropping furniture onto a floor.
Designer:
Entering the lounge, you realize you are not looking at rows of chairs but a low wooden city. Connected seats form islands of different sizes that plug into the existing architecture, creating pockets for solo travelers, pairs, and larger groups. You can choose a corner that feels tucked away, a spot with a direct runway view, or a cluster where a family can spread out without blocking circulation.
Instead of Mondrian’s red, yellow, and blue, the designers used solid wood from European tree species Mondrian once painted in his early landscape work. That swap keeps the De Stijl grid and rhythm but trades visual shouting for warmth and calm. In a terminal full of screens and branding, the consistent wood tones and leather upholstery act like a noise-cancelling layer without resorting to beige blandness.
The orthogonal layout hides surprising variety, armchairs with side tables, benches, back-to-back arrangements, and larger platforms for groups. Power outlets are integrated into the wooden blocks, so charging a laptop does not mean hunting for a wall socket or sitting on the floor. The grid gives order, but within it you can find a spot that matches how you actually want to wait.
Because seating follows a clear grid aligned with the architecture, it is easier to orient yourself and remember where you were sitting when you come back with coffee. The repetition of similar forms, combined with daylight from large windows and a neutral floor, creates visual tranquility rare in airports. It feels designed to let your brain idle instead of constantly scanning for threats.
The lounge treats waiting not as dead time to fill with more screens, but as a chance to sit in a space with a clear idea behind it. By abstracting the landscape outside and channeling Mondrian without copying his colors, Beyond Space turns a generic airport zone into a small wooden blueprint of Dutch design history that just happens to be comfortable between flights.
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