Design.

New façade for an abandoned office building.

Context.

A large office building situated in a residential park. The assignment was to have the façade engage more with the surrounding residential neighborhood, while also hinting at a new corporate culture on the inside (co-working, ‘anders werken’) that was more like home than work.

The existing concrete structure was still in usable condition, and formed a practical, harmonic base.
When we first visited the building, it had been abandoned for quite some time, and it stood awkwardly in the park , a symbol of despair for the unlucky homeowners who had to look at it each day.

We did love, however, how it was surrounded by nature (lots of nature) and how the many trees on the plot were reflected in the existing windows. Unfortunately, there was little connection between inside and outside. And the façade was more neighborhood bully than residential landmark.

Concept.
The new house on the block.

Through the application of a white brick façade, and windows of varying sizes and depths, we like to the think that we added a human dimension. The new volume builds upon the harmony of the concrete structure, but introduces several added layers of expression. For example, mechanical rooms on the roof are integrated into the melody of high and low volumes. And, the added depth and variation of the window composition refers not only to the variation in use on the inside, but also allows the exterior of the building to interact more actively with the sun. In short, the new façade is meant to be discovered, impossible to experience fully in just a passing glimpse.