![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-01.jpg)
Furniture Neighborhood by Tjep
Dutch designer Frank Tjepkema of Tjep. has completed a furniture project at Amstel Station in Amsterdam.
![tjep-amstel-07.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-07.jpg)
Furniture Neighborhood is a "landscape of furniture" where train passengers can relax.
![tjep-amstel-02.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-02.jpg)
The following is from Tjep.:
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Title: Furniture Neighborhood
Tjep. was commissioned by the Dutch Railways to create an area for train passengers to relax.
![tjep-amstel-00.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-00.jpg)
The location in question, the Amstel Station in Amsterdam, is a building from the 30's in which painter Peter Alma (connected to the cubist movement) was invited to realize two very large murals.
![tjep-amstel-04.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-04.jpg)
The two paintings show trains, people and cities, making visible the function trains fulfill, which is to connect these elements.
![tjep-amstel-03.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-03.jpg)
I thought it would be nice to pick up on the people connection and city landscape themes, but in a more abstract manner and on a smaller more personal scale.
![tjep-amstel-14.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-14.jpg)
This installation is a landscape of furniture, in which the furniture pieces are arranged rather like buildings in the sense that they vary in hight and shape to form a neighborhood.
![tjep-amstel-15.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-15.jpg)
The playful composition of forms, based on a rigid (rather cubist) framework, was developed with a balance between privacy and openness in mind, inviting people to experience different levels of intimacy or interaction.
![tjep-amstel-141.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-141.jpg)
Product photography usually doesn't include the people who will actually be using the designs, in this case I couldn't ignore how naturally the pieces were adopted by the passing public, and how the initial intentions were immediately made visible in context.
![tjep-amstel-13.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-13.jpg)
For the choice of materials, the rather unusual choice of wood and leather for a public space communicates a strong sense of comfort but also a sense of vulnerability.
![tjep-amstel-11.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-11.jpg)
This will trigger users to be more respectful with this installation than might be the case with furniture usually found in stations (until now this seems to work).
![tjep-amstel-12.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-12.jpg)
Design and photography: Frank Tjepkema (Tjep.)
![tjep-amstel-18.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-18.jpg)
![tjep-amstel-17.jpg](http://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2008/10/tjep-amstel-17.jpg)