General concept: The construction of a new headquarters always allows a company to express its corporate values through design. The young and innovative company DocMorris has carried out this transformation together with the architects in charge of the project, resulting in a new headquarters that highlights transparency, modernity, and sustainability in a flexible environment that is warm and comfortable for employees.

The new headquarters of DocMorris, the largest online pharmacy in Europe, is located in the German-Dutch Business Park Avantis in Heerlen (NL) and consists of two buildings: an air conditioned warehouse (9,800 m²) and an office building (5,700 sqm) with 480 work stations, meeting rooms, and a large multipurpose space.

These two buildings are offset relative to one another. With this arrangement it is possible to create the necessary area for trucks to load and unload in front of the logistics center, and a large parking area next to the office building, which is largely hidden by a grove on the side of the highway.

This arrangement allows for the office building to be positioned in a large green space to the north of the grounds and be visible from the nearby highway.

Logistics center concept: The logistics center is located on the southeast edge of the enclosure and is formed by a warehouse on the ground floor, and a mezzanine level with pharmaceutical offices facing north. On the southwest side of the storeroom there is a reserve area of approx. 5000 m2 for possible future extension.

The structure is metal with a 12 x 24 m grid of pillars. The headroom measures in at 12.30 m, and the facade has a total height of 14.10 m. The logistics center is a rectangular, clear, and simple volume. The facade consists of a base of precast concrete and horizontal aluminum sandwich panels. The panels are different shades of gray that create a lively and animated texture, optically reduce the size of the building, and can integrate the various openings.

Office building concept: The building has 4 levels and an asymmetrical floor plan with a central atrium.

On the ground floor, the following amenities are located: access control, a spacious lobby, mailroom, 3 pharmaceutical offices, a large multipurpose room with catering for 260 people, and a large meeting room.

Through access control is also means of entry to the logistics center, with an adjacent staircase and a connecting bridge between buildings. The first and second floors are distributed into open space office areas of varying sizes for different departments in the company. The meeting and break rooms are located in the central area of services alongside the atrium.

The management and administration departments are located on the third floor.

For the building structure, a combination of prefabricated concrete floor panels with supporting steel beams was used; an economic solution that allows for greater distance between support columns with less slab thickness.

Thanks to this structure and the ease to change divisions, the floors are very flexible, allowing for a variety of other future uses. The atrium connects all of the floors, and letting natural light and ventilation flow through the building to the lobby downstairs. The facades of the building have been designed based on their orientation and use in each area. They consist of a curtain wall made of transparent and opaque elements.

The south and north facades are equipped with automated aluminum sun blinds to allow for natural light the majority of the day, while avoiding glare and minimizing solar radiation in summer.

Landscaping: The proposal is to create a local biotope with ponds, trees, bushes, and hedges that would maintain continuity with the environment and form a small, yet vital, local fauna space.

Concept of interior design: Kadawittfeldarchitektur, architectural interior design project manager, describes the concept of interior design as follows: "The ground floor of the new headquarters is a space of “intercomunication” for the company. Right next to the main entrance there is sofa area at the foot of the atrium that invites those waiting or talking to do so comfortably. The bar is frequented not only at lunchtime; with its large tables and benches, it can be used outside the scheduled cafeteria hours.

Cubby-like booths in different colors offer quiet spaces for meetings for up to 4 to 6 people. The great room is flexible and can be used for conferences and meeting for groups up to 20 people. In total, the 3 floors of work space are distributed into offices of varying sizes surrounding a central atrium. In the center of each floor there is a service area with a break room, copy shop, and meeting rooms.

The concept of colors and materials is based on the corporate image of DocMorris and revolves around a color palette of green, white, and grey. These colors, though rather cold, are complemented by warm, natural materials such as wooden parquet, rugs, and upholstered furniture."

Sustainability concepts: As a company committed to the environment and the efficient use of natural resources, DocMorris has built a new and sustainable headquarters.

In this sense, we have used different sustainable technologies for the construction of the buildings. In addition, rainwater is used for irrigation and to provide water to the biotope.

The orientation of the office building, its facades, and the central atrium maximizes the natural light that comes in. Automated aluminum slats allows for working with natural light over the course of the day, while avoiding overheating of interior spaces. The inclination of the blades is automatically adjusted depending on the position of the sun and the seasons, which means high-energy savings in heating, cooling and artificial lighting. It is a system that ultimately allows the accurate adjustment of the natural lighting depending on the needs and comfort of the user, and reduces energy consumption. The artificial lighting of the offices is mostly composed of LED lights.

For heat recovery, a rotary heat exchanger was installed, with efficiencies of up to 85%. The special treatment of the matrix rotor exchanger supplies the transmission of air supply and expulsion, and facilitates moisture control over various areas.

All of these measures have helped to significantly reduce the energy consumption of the new DocMorris headquarters.

The building has obtained the certificate of Good BREEAM sustainability, an environmental seal issued by the Green Building Council (DGBC) of the Netherlands certifying the sustainability of buildings.