Interior redesign of former assembly hall

The production halls of the former Simplex bicycle works in the De Schinkel industry zone have been home since 2002 to the advertising agency Ogilvy Nederland. High sawtooth roofs and the extensive glazing provided in the factory conversion by Neutelings Riedijk provide ample daylight, making the halls seem like large covered outdoor spaces.

In order to accommodate the entire staff in this space, Witteveen Visch Architecten decided to apply a form of “lightweight urban design”. This meant that, instead of using a fixed subdivision of the space and a permanent infrastructure of corridors and building services, the designers opted for a temporary “exploration” of the floor space (115 x 50 m) in which the various office functions are accommodated in separate elements. The positioning of these elements, alternating with the work areas, emphasizes the longitudinal direction of the halls.

The material of the pavilion-like structures indicates their purpose. Special spaces for concentrated work are housed in untreated steel volumes; the raised rooms, enwrapped in translucent fabric, are conceived as “think tanks”. Two wooden sheds house the ancillary functions, namely the entrance area and the company kitchen. The entrance module is particularly striking as a result of the explicit narrowing of the passage between the anonymous business park and the immense hall. The designers succeeded in creating a coherent interior despite the seemingly random scattering of the elements (the concrete floor under each element is in fact locally reinforced). The large scale and the technical perfection of execution were the main motives behind the design’s nomination for the Lensvelt de Architect Interior Award 2002. ARCAM/PH