The
Nije Gritenije foundation is a Rabobank initiative to stimulate local
and regional entrepreneurship. The foundation asked Amsterdam based
FLATarchitects to design twenty workstations and a conference room on
the ninth and tenth floor of the brand new Rabobank building. Four of
these workstations will be permanently used by members of the
foundation. The remaining sixteen workstations will be used by a
continuously changing group of starting entrepreneurs and artists.
Concept
FLATarchitects
devised a basic interior design which can be customized and completed
by the users. They can adapt their space to their specific needs. In
this way temporary users are able to appropriate their place of work
in a relatively short period of time. Also, the interior is designed
to encourage innovation and discussion among users and visitors.
Design
The
stairs towards the ninth floor end in an entrance space fenced off by
four irregularly shaped objects. Together they form a ‘porous wall’
filtering the activity in the work space behind. Through the gaps and
reflecting surfaces of the wall, sounds and images are presented to
the spectator in fragments. The shifting sight lines of the visitor
climbing the stairs was used as a designing instrument for these
wooden objects. These same objects on the side of the work space are
used as bookshelves.
The
permanent workstations are positioned next to the entrance. The four
desktops fan out from a shared drawer unit. Their shapes and colours
differ from the flexible workstations. Four large tables together
provide space for sixteen temporary workers. The tables consist of a
steel frame with a tabletop made of steel grid panels. The tabletop
can be arranged according to ones needs by combining various desk
elements, such as desktops of several sizes, storage objects, book
displays and multiple sockets. These elements have a negative grid at
the bottom, in order to fix them to the grid.
The
tenth floor
From
the entrance space stairs lead on to the conference- and presentation
room on the tenth floor. In order to emphasize the relatedness of the
two top floors, the striking banisters by their irregular shape refer
to the wall objects. Upstairs your attention is immediately drawn to
the carpet, which is also covering parts of the wall. It shows a
giant map of Friesland (the Dutch province) designed by graphic
artist Martin Draax. The members of the Nije Gritenije foundation
gather over this map, around a grand conference table with eleven
chairs, one for each Frisian city. By closing a wall-to-wall curtain,
part of the space can be dimmed for showing films or presentations.
When looking out of the windows the real map of Friesland unfolds.
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