Description

Wiel Arets is renowned for his minimalistic architectural style and his ambition to develop apparently simple yet complex buildings. The headquarters for the Dutch furniture producer Lensvelt also follows this concept: from the outside it is a plain cubic building, while the interior is surprisingly complex. Rather than being subdivided into individual areas for storage, offices and exhibition areas the building is based on an open plan layout. Consequently, the floor area of 6,200 m² can flexibly adapt itself to different design concepts and new functional requirements. Due to the skilful use of light, the interior has a special quality to it: during the day, natural light enters the open spaces through large glazed areas; at night, the building itself turns into a light source and seems to float as it is raised 1 m above ground.

A translucent double skin of greenish figured glass wraps almost the entire building. It is only interrupted by an access route with aligning design and distribution spaces. The architect plays with the themes of transparency and translucency; two opaque volumes protrude out of the long “crystal”, which is designed as a steel skeleton. On the eastern side, a metal box is “floating” 2.50 m above ground housing a conference room, On the western side a similar cube, which is placed closer to the ground, highlights the main entrance and the staff room. Between these two volumes an interior courtyard is situated, which comprises a wooden ramp, gingko trees and a rampart of sharp-edged slate. From this courtyard one reaches two symmetrical exhibition spaces, which are designed by using basic materials such as timber, glass, and steel.

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Originally published in: Jürgen Adam, Katharina Hausmann, Frank Jüttner, Industrial Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2004.