Willemswerf
Reinventing a Rotterdam Icon
We have long admired Wim Quist’s iconic Willemswerf office building, so we were delighted to be asked to renovate its basement and ground floor. Our ‘hotel makeover’ adds contemporary informality and luxury to the 1980s classic, giving it a fresh lease of life in an age of more flexible working styles.
We no longer work the way we did 30 years ago. Our sociable lobby design helps people to feel ‘at home’ in the office.’
NdR
👻We go for geometry
👻We go for geometry
We decided that the best way to restore the glory of Willemswerf – now somewhat dimmed by many years as a multi-occupant office building – was to retain and enhance the existing geometric grid. We therefore opened up the lobby to allow the spatial quality to sing out once more, restoring the extensive sightlines and replacing a boxed-in stairwell with a signature sweeping staircase. We also swapped utilitarian materials like ceramic tiles for warm, luxurious wood and marble, helping to create a welcoming ambience. The lobby is transformed into a place for informal meetings and entertaining guests.
NdR
👻Restoring spatial quality
Hospitable at heart — Our spiral staircase leads visitors up from the basement entrance to the open ground floor lobby, a tapering, light-filled space overlooking the River Maas. A new central core holds our new coffee bar and restaurant, as well as the kitchen, bathrooms and elevators. Clusters of classic Modernist furniture – sofas, armchairs and coffee tables – give the meeting space a friendly, informal atmosphere.
👻The hotel experience
👻The hotel experience
We modeled our new lobby concept on a high-end hotel, so naturally we included a coffee bar and a restaurant, both named after Wim Quist on our recommendation. The coffee bar acts as a sort of welcome gesture to people entering the building from either of its entrances. As a self-sufficient volume, it also adds variation to the geometric grid, as a contrasting object in the continuous space – an effect heightened by the materials and color palette.
We set out to enhance the mastery of materials, great spatial quality and precise detailing.’
SA
