Art Space
The public area on the ground floor forms a natural transition with the adjacent square. In order to enhance the accessibility and liveability of the office environment in Zuidas, the architect has made a design that gives the ground floor a unique public function. On the ground floor there is now the AkzoNobel Essential Art Space, where the AkzoNobel Art Foundation international collection will be shown to a wide cross-section of the public by means of changing exhibitions. This Art Space was created through intensive cooperation between Hester Alberdingk Thijm, Director of the AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Tom Postma Design and Folkert van Hagen of GROUP A. Artist Steven Aalders designed a work as the roof of the car park kiosk at the entrance to the car park in the adjacent square.

Two linked atrium spaces
Two linked atrium spaces form the backbone of the interior. The first atrium is devoted to the ‘AkzoNobel Experience’ on the ground floor, which is open to the public. It contains the entrance, reception, restaurant and Art Space. The semi-public ‘Meeting AkzoNobel’ is on the first floor. This floor is the epicentre for employees and business partners. It is connected via a second atrium with ‘Working at AkzoNobel’, the section of the building comprising the offices on the higher floors. The design and furnishings of these floors are aimed at intensive and efficient use of space, and above all an inspiring, energy efficient and healthy work environment. The interior design with customized furniture made from wood from sustainably managed forests has user-friendly rounded angles and shapes. It reflects the dynamism projected by the exterior, as a result of which the inside/outside sensations merge to create a harmonic unity.

Colour and Art
The use of colour in the floor covering and table tops on the floors is concentrated around the atrium, the beating heart of each floor. Items from the AkzoNobel art collection are also on show all over the building, well-lit and presented on special walls. Architecture and art form a real symbiosis here. The colours change from the centre into the wings. Every floor has its own colour theme. In this way the reflections of the different shades on the ceilings of successive storeys create a vertical colour spectrum, which lighting makes more prominent as evening approaches. This bright colour palette, which can also be seen at a distance from the motorway or a train, is a subtle reference to the occupant AkzoNobel.

Multi-skinned façade
AkzoNobel, world’s biggest producer of decorative paints and performance coatings, is a leader in sustainability. The ambition of AkzoNobel and DuraVermeer for the new Center is to attain the BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating, based on obtaining a 4-Star BREEAM-NL New Build Design Certificate. Important features contributing to this include solar panels on the roof, photovoltaic cells in the atrium glazing, a ground source heat pump system, the double multi-skinned façade and the proximity of the railway station. In the summer the hot air between the innermost and outermost skins of the multi-skinned façade is vented in order to prevent heating of the interior. In the winter, on the other hand, stationary hot air insulates the building. The stratified glass façade has an integrated lighting design that gives the building a pleasant and lively appearance during the day and also at night.

GROUP A
Keilestraat 9F
3029 BP Rotterdam
+31102440193
mail@groupa.nl
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