When asked to design a new branch for a widely debated and controversial collection agency we were intrigued by the contradictions embedded in the job. Because of its very function the venue had to be visible but discreet. Even if the budget was very low it didn’t have to look too cheap. It had to be pleasing without looking celebrative.

Location: a former warehouse on the ground floor of a huge office block facing a shady dead-end street.

After a careful analysis of the conditions above, we decided to base the project on just a few elements: a distinct but rather neutral black-and-blue volume with a sloping low ceiling serves as an entrance, marking the transition from the street to the main hall. In the main hall the industrial feeling of its former function is preserved: no false ceilings to hide the structure and the installations, just a careful placing of the new elements and, most of all, cheap white paint all over.