Occupying a prominent site at the entrance to the William McDonough + Partners designed Park 20l20 development in the Netherlands, Fox Vakanties, a Dutch internet travel booking organization specializing in distant, exotic destinations, is the latest company to take up residence. With a high ambition for design sustainability, the office headquarters embodies and colorfully celebrates both global and local diversity and cultures. The exuberant design is anchored by the company’s “Travel Theater” with its undulating and sculptural folded fabric skin that becomes a glowing beacon at night.
The first project at Park 20l20 to achieve BREEAM “Excellent” designation, the Fox Vakanties building dynamically responds to its site with an upper building mass that houses offices and angles to self-shade on the south side while opening towards the park to the north with a colorful glass façade. The upper offices visually “float” above a vegetated base of common areas that provides habitat for local bird species. A conference center opens towards an elevated garden space while an interior atrium skylight that provides ample interior daylighting. Slimbouwen technology, which employs a panelized floor system with separate prefabricated services, demonstrates an integrated system that helps to reduce volume, waste, and construction time while allowing flexibility and demountability. Interiors are designed to both connect occupants to each other and to the world through equitably and sustainably sourced materials that are healthy for human and ecological health.
