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Type: Office (renovation and interior) Location: Herengracht 258-266, Amsterdam Client: Wieden + Kennedy Team: Bart Reuser, Marijn Schenk, Michel Schreinemachers, John van de Water, Joost Lemmens, Toon van Schijndel, Jurriaan Hillerström, Agatha Osika, Ieda Alvarez Dogo, Jennifer de Jonge, Bas Kalmeijer, Maria Salinas Floor area / size: 5.600 sqm Cost: Euro 5.500.000,00 Contractor: Dijkman-Carbaat Bouw BV Construction: Strackee BV bouwadviesbureau Installations: Trintas BV (advice); Lomans Groep totaalinstallateurs (E), Gebr. Van Wijk installatietechniek BV(W) First design: 2007-12-10 Completion: December 2007 Status: Under construction

2008-05-05 completion follows soon 2007-10-10 Red entrance floor 2007-05-16 Reconstruction started

Wieden + Kennedy, the advertising agency of firms such as Nike and Coca Cola, asked NEXT to design their new accommodation on the Amsterdam Herengracht. The new building was a labyrinthine conjunction of two historical properties.

The six floor areas – 1,000 m² each – were promisingly large, but entirely without vertical connections. NEXT’s proposal was to open up the hearts of the two buildings by inserting three glass shafts that cut through all of the floors. Inside the glass shafts we created double-high spaces that connect to every other floor. This creates diagonal sight lines among all the different floors in the middle of the building. The glass spaces are used as presentation and meeting facilities and are called the ‘meeting and working rooms’. This operation has resulted in a tremendous amount of transparency without loss of useful floor space.  

The details of the interior include various contrasts, for instance between the rough unfinished shop floors and the perfection of the materials and the details in the glass meeting rooms. The original period rooms are extraordinary, too: they have been left intact wherever possible and bring the historical feel of the buildings to life.  Front to back, we designed long cupboards that bridge the height difference between the floors. They are clad in magnetic materials so they can be used as presentation panels: every floor can be transformed from a shop floor to a presentation room.

The programme includes a small theatre for screenings, various studios for audiovisual productions, a gym with a floor made out of recycled Nike shoes, a penthouse with a bar and a roof garden overlooking the city, and a large garden with basketball facilities. On the elaboration of the interior design, NEXT collaborated with several kindred spirits. Snode Vormgevers, for instance, designed a number of tables that can slide out of the kitchen window. The tables include crosscut wood sections for the preparation of food that are removable and washable.

Type: Office space Location: Amsterdam Overamstel Client: NEXT architects Team: Bart Reuser, Marijn Schenk, Michel Schreinemachers with Jurriaan Hillerström, Agatha Osika, Ieda Alvarez Dogo, Joost Lemmens, Filipe Pocas, Toon van Schijndel, Jennifer de Jonge Floor area / size: 270 sqm Contractor: KBK bouw Installations: Hollandertechniek Carpenter: Morowood First design: 2007-11-15 Status: Completed

Our own office space is located since mid-2007 in a former chewing gum factory that has recently become one of Amsterdam’s creative hotspots.

Being one of the first companies to move in, we started with just an empty space.  In general, we wanted to keep that atmosphere intact. We preserved the empty space by creating a large open central work area surrounded by various service rooms that can be closed off or totally opened up as needed. These side rooms can be entirely closed off with ceiling-high sliding doors edged with rubber sealing flanges, like the ones found at carwashes. 

The openness of the large central workspace is preserved and enhanced by the use of 7-meter long tables, creating a large open space between the tables and the ceiling that also draws attention to the industrial character of the ceiling and the room itself. 

Type: Lobby Location: Shangdi Beijing Client: Huan Yang Grand Land Team: John van de Water, Bart Reuser, Marijn Schenk, Michel Schreinemachers with Melle Pama, Michel van Tilborg, Yuan Duo, Hu Qin Floor area / size: 800 sqm First design: 2007-10-08 Completion: August 2007

HAYA-mansion is a 1.700 sqm office building located near the North 4th Ring Road. The assignment was for the design of the 800m2 lobby; the client had envisioned a lobby where Chinese tradition and modern office-culture would blend. 

The design follows the Chinese conception of an ideal lobby: a lobby should be large and to suggest it being large, it should be empty. This conception is translated into an architectonic concept in which the lobby wall is used to integrate all interior objects and functions that are required, such as the directory of occupants, visitor seating, art, planting and lighting.  

To blend with Chinese tradition, the initial proposal is optimized in co-operation with a Fengshui expert. This led to specific shapes of the lobby-walls and to specific locations for red lights, paintings, fish bowls and ancient Chinese money. The wall colours are derived from an actual Beijing sunrise, aiming to provide an everlasting vital morning atmosphere.

Type: Interior, office space Location: Xicheng District, Beijing Client: Huan Yang Group, JDSF consultancy, NEXT architects Team: Bart Reuser, Marijn Schenk, Michel Schreinemachers, John van de Water with Joost Lemmens, Geoffrey Moote, Froukje van de Klundert, Chen Song, Wang Bo and Zang Rui Floor area / size: 1.250 sqm First design: 2005-04-23 Completion: 2005

The Beijing NEXT architects / Huan Yang-office measures a 100 x 25 meter typical open office floor. Four different companies and a number of departments share the same office floor. To connect and organize the individual companies, a concept was developed in which the traditional Chinese corridor - or lang - is used as a reference.  

Traditionally, a lang connects places while providing a constant changing perspective over the landscape it crosses. Whilst following the traditional principles, the contempory lang is charged with extra meaning. By transforming constantly in section, it incorporates the functions of lobby, meeting rooms, benches, exhibition and projection areas and storage shelves.

Type: Apartment and office space Location: Lijnbaansgracht , Amsterdam Client: Jeroen Saris, De Stad bv Team: Bart Reuser, Marijn Schenk, Michel Schreinemachers, John van de Water with Wout Smits Collaborator / associate: Color advise: Claudia Linders Floor area / size: 340 sqm Cost: Euro 250.000,00 Contractor: Bouwbedrijf Berlage Build engineer: Bouwadviesbureau Strackee Installations: Van Brederode & co Carpenter: Morowood First design: 2001-10-01 Start building: January 2002 Completion: September 2002 Status: Completed

The new owner of an historical building in the very heart of Amsterdam asked NEXT Architects to develop a design that would comprise both office and home, but maintain some separation of the two. The building had to contain a large diversity of living and working areas, while opening up the interior space.

We were inspired by synonyms for different life and work spheres, such as: cafe, club, monastery, library and restaurant. The relation between the two office floors is opened up by taking out part of the floor area and replacing it by making a cube that contains many of the service functions, such as kitchen, counter, stairs and toilets. To optimise the use of the space, we opted to partition the building into three functional zones, each with a characteristic design and atmosphere.