A glimpse inside a bright and open Strawinskyhuis

During a previous visit to the Strawinskyhuis, around two years ago, developer Jurriaan Snijders (FLOW Real Estate) made it clear even then ‘This building was dark and inaccessible, but will soon be open, bright and airy.’ Back then, all that remained was the bare skeleton of the original building and it was virtually impossible to imagine what it would ultimately look like. But Snijders has proved to be right. Most of the renovated Strawinskyhuis has now been completed and bears very little resemblance to the closed building it once was.

The real eyecatcher in the renovated Strawinskyhuis is its atrium. Attentive observers will have noticed that this was not there in the old building. The Srawinskyhuis was built in a U-shape and had an open inner courtyard complete with pond. However, the building has now been closed and covered with glass, adding extra square metres and an atrium. This gives the Strawinskyhuis a completely different feel, says Adam Smit from ZZDP Architecten. ‘Previously, there were stairs leading slightly upwards from the street, which meant that when you entered the building, you were above ground level. But we decided to remove part of the flooring on the ground floor and use the existing basement: so, when you enter, you’re actually stepping down straight into the light and airy open foyer. It’s much more inviting.’

Actually making the atrium open, light and airy was quite a challenge, adds Smit. After all, how do you achieve that if you are covering up an open inner courtyard? ‘We devised a grid of slanted skylights – the daylight enters on one side and the exterior of the other side is clad with solar panels.’ And there was another factor to consider: the acoustics. Smit: ‘With an open space like this, you quickly run the risk of it becoming one big echo chamber. On the inside of the slanted roof section, there’s now 1,300 sq. m. of sound insulation material. It’s hardly visible, isn’t it?’ he laughs. ‘But you can definitely hear the difference.’

The atrium also features another element that is hard to ignore: the ‘hanging’ meeting room. The cladding on it was 3D printed and devised by architect Casper Schwarz. He was responsible for the interior design of the Strawinskyhuis (specifically the section that will be let to law firm DLA Piper). Smit: ‘ZZDP Architecten is responsible for the exterior. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have any ideas to suggest about the Strawinskyhuis interior. Together with Schwarz we carefully examined how we could ensure that his signature – those round, organic and soft shapes – is also reflected inside, without undermining the basic structure of this building, which includes a lot of straight lines and square shapes. We’re very happy with the result.’

Although the Strawinskyhuis may now have a completely different look and feel, something on the external façade still harks back to the old building. ‘My partner Joris Deur suggested using hand-made bricks in a tiered joint. That way, you create a vertical texture in the façade’, reveals Smit. ‘The clay bricks are made by the Danish company Petersen Tegl. Whenever a tile is pushed out of the mould, it’s marked with a thumbprint, so that every tile is slightly different. Back in 2000, a museum in Cologne was clad with this type of tile, making it famous almost overnight. Ever since then, the tile has been used worldwide.’