The Outlook

American-style, very modern office complex with an open, light, pavilion-like ambience, considerable free height at each storey, and extra-wide office bays with a minimum amount of columns. The building lies at a strategic and internationally readily accessible location at Schiphol Centre, opposite the head office of the Schiphol Group. The project has been realized in two phases and covers more than 38,000 m2 of office space as well as offering 850 parking places. Of the first-phase section (19,898 m2 of office space and 450 parking places) more than two-thirds is occupied by the Dutch head office of Microsoft. The main structure consists of a series of alternately interlocking longer and shorter office bays. Two subterranean layers and the plinth of the building contain the car parks. The office floors are entirely open plan and are mutually linked by large voids and representative staircases. The flexible and efficient layout makes it possible for the owner, Schiphol Real Estate, to respond rapidly to the individual spatial wishes of diverse tenants. The combination of a steel skeleton with hollow-core slab floors is exploited to the full in an intelligent and economic construction that enables extra-wide office bays with large spans and a minimum amount of columns. A free storey height of no less than 2.90 m gives a pleasant sense of spaciousness. The façades have been large implemented in glass without vertical posts, so that much natural daylight can enter. The voids, too, with roofed-over lighting strips above, contribute to an abundant incidence of daylight. The project was faced with a few exceptional preconditions: the high groundwater level, substantial noise pollution due to air traffic, and a complicated location directly adjoining the Schiphol Rail Tunnel. In addition, the throughput time of the project was exceptionally short.