[ Wiel Arets Architects]
Located in an industrial area between Apeldoorn’s city center and a nearby highway–in the east of the Netherlands–this office contains the administrative and showroom areas of a furniture manufacturer. Its main volume composes its interior, while both its parking and outdoor storage areas are scattered throughout the rear of the site.
The office is slightly curved along its front edge, which traces a semicircular entry pathway for automobiles–which is bordered by water–that proceeds to pass under the center of the main volume, in order to connect both entities of the site. In this way, the rear storage areas remains unseen by those driving past the building. After entering the office’s main foyer, a central circulation route leads users up and into the first floor exhibition, office, and café spaces.
The main volume’s two floors are visually and spatially intertwined by numerous staircases that punctuate the dividing floor at unexpected intervals within the administrative spaces, which return in the showroom as internal patios. With the exception of the foyer, the office is wrapped completely in translucent white polycarbonate, which captures the ever changing natural light that dances and glitters upon its highly articulated surface; this amplifies the office’s capacity for ‘interiority’. Text description by the architects.
Source: www.wielaretsarchitects.com
Photography: All images belong to Wiel Arets Architects
