MVRDV’s remade space for the electric automaker NIO has opened in Amsterdam. The Chinese brand’s new European flagship offers just over 29,000 square feet of showrooms and other spaces carved out of a seven-story heritage structure in the Keizersgracht district that's held over from the 19th Century. 

Partner Jacob van Rijs says: “The exciting challenge of this project was in unifying the history of this building with the identity of NIO, a company which in many senses is interested in offering a vision of the future. In a sense, we are confronting the same challenge that Rietveld resolved so gracefully 90 years ago. NIO House Amsterdam shows how the old and the new can provide a counterpoint for one another and ultimately enrich each other.”

The building has changed hands several times throughout its long history after originally being constructed for the New York Life Insurance Company in 1891. Special features include a second-floor “Joy Camp” children’s entertainment area designed to be adjacent to the building’s Forum conference room for local businesses and other organizations. 

These are located above the main first-floor showroom space and beneath third-floor co-working suites that are open for booking to members of the public.

A fourth-floor art and design gallery is situated beneath the final fifth-floor offices for the company and sixth-floor event spaces. A rooftop pavilion completes the program, named for its original designer Gerrit Rietveld, the Dutch architect and furnituremaker best known for his contributions to the country’s De Stijl movement and Van Gogh Museum just over a mile away. 

Once inside, visitors will enjoy the physical embodiment of the company’s slogan “Blue sky coming.” 

From level to level, a colorful gradient of earth tones changes slightly on the way up to the culminating glass-enclosed pavilion. This is a multifunctional design defined by NIO's atypical public-serving character and reminiscent of the building’s past relationship with consumers in the city. 

Tellingly, MVRDV also created a cafe space on the ground floor of the building. 3D-printed wall panels provided by partner Aectual are another highlight of the design, which includes ultra-sustainable Durabella terrazzo flooring from Duracryl in the first two levels.