Page 173 - AIT1018_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Space Encounters, NL-Amsterdam
Grundriss 11. Geschoss • Floor plan Level +11
Grundriss 12. Geschoss • Floor plan Level 12
Bauherr • Client Sony Music, NL-Amsterdam
Standort • Location Overhoeksplein 1, NL-Amsterdam
Nutzfläche • Floor space 700 m 2
Fotos • Photos Peter Tijhuis, NL-Amsterdam
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More infos on page 192
SONY MUSIC HQ
IN AMSTERDAM
A’Dam – Amsterdam Dance and Music – is how the former
Shell Tower on the north bank of the IJ River has been cal-
led since 2014. These days, it is the location of all kinds of
representatives of the domestic music industry. Among
them is also the Sony Music record label. Its premises on
the eleventh and twelfth upper floors have been designed
by the Amsterdam Space Encounters architectural office.
T he former Shell Tower is one of Amsterdam’s most striking land-
marks. Since 1971, the almost 100 metres high tower has been stand-
ing on the north bank of the IJ River and dominating the panorama oppo-
site the historic old part of the city. Originally, the structure designed by the
architect Arthur Staal (1907–1993) served as the administrative building for
the adjacent laboratory- and research centre of the petroleum company.
Around the turn of the millennium, however, Shell radically reduced the
location and handed the until then strictly closed-off area over to the city
of Amsterdam. As a consequence, over the past years a new inner-city dis-
trict with almost 2,200 residential units and about 130,000 square metres
of commercial space was developed. The cultural anchor is the EYE Film
Institute Netherlands built according to plans by the Viennese Delugan
Meissl architectural office and inaugurated in 2012. After the last group
employees had moved out in 2009, it took until 2014 for a new utilization
concept to be submitted for the Shell Tower as well. In the same year, the
architects Felix Claus and Dick van Wageningen were commissioned with
the renovation and the tower was officially renamed A’Dam Tower, which
can be understood as the abbreviation of Amsterdam itself as well as an
acronym for Amsterdam Dance and Music. The latter then also refers to
the new purpose of the building because, since its reopening in 2016, the
music industry, which is quite important for the city, is located in the
A’Dam. Major record labels, music publishers and concert agencies have
their offices here. Since last year, the major label Sony Music has also been
residing in the A’Dam. Space Encounters were in charge of designing the
offices on the eleventh and twelfth floors. The architects left the concrete
columns of the façade uncovered and designed a work environment with
a strict grid and consistently grey in grey. On the one hand! On the other –
entirely true to the motto “work hard, play nice” – almost half of the office
area was designed as a communal, communication- and relaxation zone,
including comfortable sofas and recliner chairs, a bar and a DJ booth. All
the installations and the furniture here are immersed in rich green. In addi-
tion, there are exotic potted plants in all kinds of forms, colours and sizes.
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