Van Oers Village
An office building that focuses on creating a community, on connections.
Van Oers Village is the design for a headquarters for the accounting firm Van Oers, facilitating connections between employees and departments; a building where encounters are central.
We are convinced that iconic architecture arises when a building has a distinctive impact in terms of appearance, concept, materialization, or distinctive characteristics.
Van Oers intends to close several locations and move into a new headquarters. How iconic could it be to design the new location analogous to a village with neighborhoods, streets, squares, a restaurant, a park, meeting places, and people? In our opinion, this is the perfect opportunity to transform the somewhat fragmented image of the organization into an iconic headquarters where the integration of the organization is achieved through spatial play.
“In Van Oers Village, the various departments function as ‘neighbourhoods’ within the village. “
Van Oers Village Where the various Van Oers branches were previously spread across various municipalities in North Brabant, they finally come together in Van Oers Village.
A building as a village. A building that focuses on creating a community, on connections. In Van Oers Village, the various departments function as “neighborhoods” within the village. The courtyards between the neighborhoods are places for meetings, festivities, or presentations for all employees. The internal streets connect the “neighborhoods” and offer a place to meet colleagues, chat, or enjoy a cup of coffee.
The parking lot at ground level brings daylight deep into the parking level. From here, employees can reach the central visitors’ plaza on the ground floor. Visitors have a separate staircase that leads directly to the main entrance.
On the ground floor is the “Visitors’ Square,” where everyone enters the building and where staff and clients can meet. Clients can report to reception and wait in the square or lounge area. The amphitheater adjacent to this square is multifunctional and offers a space for both clients and staff. The auditorium is located beneath the amphitheater. All client meeting rooms are also located on this floor.
On the first floor is the “Employee Square,” a central meeting place and venue for events and festivities for all employees. The restaurant
with an outdoor terrace is also located on this square. A scenic route across the outdoor terrace and along the south facade of the building allows employees to stretch their legs and experience nature at the various levels of Van Oerspark.
Nature is always palpable in Van Oers Village.
And, importantly, if there’s a birthday to celebrate or a Friday afternoon drink in the mood, Café ‘Bij Harrie’ is located in the park, overlooking the staff square.
The departments are situated around the two central squares. This visually connects all departments to each other and to these squares. The internal streets are designed as bridges in the heart of the building, providing access to all departments. The stepped arrangement of the three squares (the parking square, Van Oersplein, and the staff square) allows daylight to penetrate deep into the building. It also creates an exciting urban fabric with stairs, bridges, vistas, and a program that invites visitors to explore and explore.
Clients have the privilege of entering from the parking garage through the main entrance and, on Van Oersplein, catch a glimpse of the staff square at the top of the amphitheater. Since most employees arrive by car, they will have to make a short climb via the green parking square to reach Van Oersplein.
“Van Oers Village is a place that doesn’t feel like a dull office environment, but rather a cozy village where daylight is abundant in the squares and atriums, and greenery and wood are an integral part of the interior. “
A warm interior Van Oers Village is a welcoming place where employees feel at home.
Van Oers Village is a place that doesn’t feel like a dull office environment, but rather a cozy village where daylight is abundant in the squares and atriums, and greenery and wood are an integral part of the interior.
To achieve this, a soft foundation of wooden (acoustic) hollow-core slab floors, stairs, and parapets was chosen. Besides providing a pleasant natural look, the wood also contributes to good acoustics and a high sustainability rating. The concrete beams and columns create a calm foundation and interplay beautifully with the warm wood.
To contrasts this tranquil base of concrete and wood, green accent colours are used in the interior.
Trees and plants in the squares, bathed in daylight from the glass atrium roofs, reinforce the feeling of truly being in a village with squares and streets.
And if you still crave some fresh air and nature, you can take a lovely walk from the restaurant to the lush Van Oerspark on the roof, which is palpable throughout the building and where you can enjoy the afternoon sun.
One village, one façade theme The horizontal bands create identity and clarity. The vertical louvers respond to the need for openness or privacy.
The entire Van Oers Village is surrounded by green horizontal bands that give it a unified appearance and emphasis the unity that Van Oers aims to convey.
Just as the metal bands of a wine barrel enclose and hold together the wooden staves and the rich contents, the green bands embrace the village called Van Oers Village.
To enhance the unity while still allowing for different programs with different facade fillings, vertical louvers have been installed with varying rhythms, depending on the underlying program.
Louvers without surface filling are used in the parking area, louvers with (partial) glass filling in the workstations, meeting rooms, and restaurant, and louvers with a closed filling where there is no need for transparency.
Van Oers Village is expandable The clear structure ensures that the building can be expanded in stages. The parking garage grows with demand.
The building’s load-bearing structure allows for easy (phased) expansion. The façade, with its horizontal bands and full-height windows, can be easily adopted and expanded without losing the building’s original character. The expansion seamlessly integrates with the floor plan and the quadrant concept.
The parking garage is a prefabricated system that can grow (or scale down) as needed. Here too, the façade band can be reused as a theme to transform the building into a new ensemble.
Van Oers Village is flexible The layout of the various departments is flexible, ranging from a fully open-plan workspace to working in separate spaces.
The building’s structure is largely defined by the two atriums and Dorpstraat. Because the access points and facilities are located on this street, the four quadrants remain fully flexible. Departments can therefore be designed in an open-plan office, in a space with enclosed spaces, or a hybrid design.
Furthermore, the building can easily be transformed into a large office building with individual tenants in the future. The smallest version in this future building would be the quadrant of approximately 350m². The walkways, stairs, and connecting floors in the two atriums then provide the possibility of expansion. Van Oers Village will become Village…
Van Oers Village is feasible The hybrid construction of concrete and wood, combined with the rational structure, makes the building easy to construct.
The design of the shell is clear. From ground level, the structure of the parking garage dictates the structure of the entire building. The main supporting structure is made of concrete and has a grid dimension of 5.4m. With the exception of the first floor (which is made of concrete), the floors are made of hollow-core timber, which allows for the integration of services. By leaving the floors exposed and using perforated wooden panels on the underside, a warm appearance is created. Floating screeds on the floors prevent impact noise and allow for the integration of underfloor heating.
credits
status:
invited competition, 2024
client:
Van Oers
designteam:
Bureau Fraai i.c.w. Grosfeld Bekkers van der Velde Architecten
location:
Breda, The Netherlands
project typology:
office
render images:
Lens Images