An ideas competition design for the headquarters of a large law firm, where openness and a focus on quality were to inspire a working environment that is transparent along sustainable lines, where encounter is uppermost and all employees have their own place. An office like a vertical city, with its own streets, terraces and squares.
The L-shaped structure gives the tower maximum views and no inconvenience from its neighbours. There is additional space on the lowest floors for the larger components of the programme, such as a grand entrance and reception area from which stairs gently ascend to the restaurant on the first floor. Ground floor functions such as a fitness centre, lunchroom or child day care centre are advantageous to the working environment. In the tower the office programme is organized about a compact core benefiting the ratio between lettable floor area and gross floor area. Office rooms assemble around a number of atria in the wider portions of the tower. These atria act as meeting spaces and deliver light, air and space into the building. The office building has a smart structure enabling different depths of office. The deeper bays accommodate the atria but also archives, services and several balconies. Facades are designed to minimize energy consumption and are sunproof to keep out excess solar heat. The alignment and rhythm of these sunproof surfaces, inspired as they are by the art works of Jan Schoonhoven, follow the orientation of the facades, being articulated horizontally to the south, vertically to the east and west and as a sleek curtain wall to the north.
