Moving house from a stately and static canal-side location to a universal office storey with panoramic views of the IJ river. A move which also results in transformation of the organisation. From musty rooms to a transparent and open space. Less islands, more communication.
A city of transparent blocks. A new look has been realised for the BNA (Union of Dutch Architects), within an anonymous office building. A series of volumes has been centrally grouped in the rectangular space, housing the closed programme such as storage rooms, conference room, concentration work stations and the library.
The volume walls are transparent, semi-transparent and sometimes composed of floor to ceiling cupboards. Cupboard is wall, wall is cupboard. By staggering the blocks, the available space has been organised and individual locations created for the various BNA departments. All the volumes are centrally positioned in the building, in order to emphasise the wide open views over the IJ river.
The choice of materials and details are based on the specific user needs, each volume has its own transparency and details. The apparently indiscriminate staggering of the volumes presents unpredictable encounters between materials. High gloss is combined with matt, reflection stands shoulder to shoulder with transparency. Two main materials have been used, glass and glass green acrylic sheeting. The standard system ceiling has been replaced by a durable expanded metal sheeting ceiling with superb acoustic qualities, the floor is grey rubber.
The new interior of the BNA is colourless; the users and visitors need to appropriate the office by means of clothing, books and accessories.
