The house of Concret is based in a listed building on the Oudezijds. Achterburgwal in the middle of the red light district. The building is an annex of the Oudezijds Voorburgwal 101 and dates back to 1880. The entire team of 35 professional people is distributed over the 4 storeys of the building and the attic is dedicated to the materials library.
Four works room are divided over three floors (1st, 2nd and 3rd floor). Every work room has an untreated wooden floor, the walls are painted white and have two worktables with a variable number of work spaces. Every member has its own aluminium trolley, to store personal belongings, drawings, stationary and binders. The trolley has a cushioned top, with concrete-orange upholstery to create additional seating for small team meetings. Above every worktable hang two ‘dear ingo’ chandeliers and one entire wall is immersed in the concrete identity; every team member was asked to collect 10 inspirational images and now there is a collection of 400 frames divided over 4 walls. Finally, archive cabinets provide storage for all current projects filed in black binders and cardboard A3 boxes. Pinup boards and magnetic strips provide space to exhibit current projects and inspiration.
The listed building provides many additional square meters in the hallway and staircase which could have a double function. As the central staircase is the physical connection between the team members, inspiration (our books) is the binding metaphor in our work. By placing the library in the middle of the staircase in combination with a coffee pantry on the 2nd floor, the hallway transforms from a circulation space into a social space.
