After for a long time having had an office above a Scheveningen fishmonger the people of Acato decided that itwas a time for a change. They wanted something more central and less smelly and their eye fell on an old 19thcentury church building in the center of The Hague. The building was completely worn out and did not meetany of the current standards concerning comfort, isolation, safety and sustainability.
In close harmony with our client Acato BBVH architects took on the design of the refurbishment of thisbuilding.
Over the years there had been many bigger and smaller changes in the building and resulting in a maze ofcorridors and unclear spaces. The first thing we did was to bring back a logical structure by removing allseparation walls, corridors and stairs. Then we designed two new stairs which made it possible to divide thebuilding in three separate units. The old church hall became the office of Acato and the three floors on thefront of the building became two separate apartments.
Key element in the design of the office space was a the new stairwell connecting the church hall with floorabove. The stairs have a steel construction but are covered with wood. The former balcony (choir?) of thechurch is now a meeting room with an amphitheater like section.
In order to create a more comfortable and energy efficient interior climate we took several measures. Weinsulated all the walls by means of a retention wall on the inside. We installed new double glass windowsaccording to the concept two systems which means that you can just ‘hang’ new and already painted windowsin the existing widow frame by means of a few screws. This system guarantees a quick montage and does notneed any painting on the site. The space underneath the floor was filled with a layer of 30 cm sea shells forinsulation but also for humidity regulation. This was the only reference left to their former office near thebeach.
All in all we tried to be as practical as possible with the limited financial means we had at our disposal. We werealways looking for the solution that brought the most improvement for the best price. It was the specific wishof the client that when finished the office still should have an informal and improvised atmosphere. This waswhat attracted them in the first place they bought the place.
