Communication and tranparancy

The Riekerpolder business park is situated halfway between Schiphol and the Zuidas, in a visually strategic location next to both the A10 and the A4 motorways. This was one of the reasons why the insurance company Atradius wanted to build its headquarters here and asked the architect to design an attention-grabbing building. The company also stipulated that the building should express what its internal organization is about. Atradius likes to present itself as a champion of the core values ‘mutual communication as spearhead and transparency as expression’.

The architect has responded by designing a system of eleven voids, with every opportunity for visual contact and encounters between employees on the various floors. The voids, which range in height from two to five storeys, are provided with trees and plants and are intersected by staircases. Their open character was possible thanks to permission from the fire service allowing only the lowest storey to be closed with a glazed façade. The work floors are completely open on all storeys and the acoustically closed rooms have transparent walls. The foyer, conference rooms and a restaurant are situated on the first two, extra high, storeys.

The building’s exterior form, too, is first and foremost a response to the request for an eye-catching building. The essentially rectangular glazed volume is angled inwards in a number of places. In some cases there is a relationship between this intervention and the voids situated behind. It also serves to mark the entrance, making the latter recognizable from the outside. (ARCAM)