Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Powerhouse Company and DELVA Landscape Architecture & Urbanism have revealed recent plans for the new IBM Headquarters in Amsterdam, which is set to be built within the Amsterdam Think District, offering its users a sustainable, vibrant, and healthy workplace.
The 35,000-square-meter office building is considered to become a living lab with a large, beating heart – dynamic and open – that works as a vertical city ripe for innovation and collaboration.
The new building is aimed at both benefit and contributes to this area that integrates work, living, and leisure set within a lush green landscape.
Placing the motto of “innovation” at the center of the design, the studio designs a building where it stimulates new ideas by focusing on connectivity and user well-being, where work, life, nature, exploration, and innovation continuously intertwine.
The multi-tenant office building will also house startups and scale-ups to live harmoniously in a shared building while keeping their separate entities within, like friendly neighbors living around a bustling town square.
“We questioned ourselves how IBM can innovate its iconic presence and seize the right opportunities in this thriving district,” says Nanne de Ru, Founder Architect at Powerhouse Company.
Although the building is solid but open, it features a large atrium as the alluring green, beating heart of this new iconic office building.
The fluid relationship between the outside and the inside is merged seamlessly with an inviting atmosphere.
The atrium is the social hub where people come together, and co-creation is stimulated by various facilities and collective spaces, such as an executive meeting center, coffee bar, restaurant, lecture hall, exercise facilities, and other social functions.
In addition to a workplace, the office becomes a place for health and sustainability in the broadest sense of the word, coinciding in one coherent and dynamic building.
“We believe in an integral vision on sustainability and well-being. To encourage employees to move throughout the day, the atrium promotes using the stairs instead of the elevators,” said Powerhouse Company.
On the ground floor, there is enough space for a fitness area, running, and yoga classes. Additionally, the ceilings will be controlled by smart technology to provide filtered fresh air.
The office uses greenery as a powerful and natural element to enhance well-being, collaborating with Steven Delva of Delva Landscape Architecture & Urbanism to weave the surrounding lush green city park into and throughout the new building.
Creating a series of landscaped terraces on the exterior roof terraces, the studio also distributes greenery throughout the inside of the atrium and connects all levels.
Powerhouse Company believes that the project is based on “a centric work and living environment” principles and “will boost the well-being of its employees and residents, stimulate engagement, increase productivity, and provide convenience and inspiration.”
The new icon of IBM will be nestled in large mixed-use city development as a hub within the city’s plan to densify the area.
The IBM monument is the anchor, representing its rich legacy in the Riekerpolder area. The new office represents the future in which IBM welcomes the city to participate and collaborate, embedded in a lush green park.
A residential icon will be overlooking the office buildings, providing a vibrant view of the dynamic Think District life.
Project: IBM Headquarters in Amsterdam
Architects: Powerhouse Company
Landscape Architects: DELVA Landscape Architecture & Urbanism
Structural Engineers: Van Rossum, BREED Integrated Design
Advisor MEP: DVP Smart Concepts, Roodenburg
Advisor Building Physics, Sustainability, and Health: DGMR
Branding: Build in Amsterdam
Graphic Designer: George & Harrison
Concept & Placemaker: Anne van der Zwaag
Advisor Spatial Planning: Mees Ruimte & Milieu
Developer: RED Company
Client: IBM
Photographers: Plomp and RED Company
