Atelier Pro Architects

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk

Atelier PRO architects

LEAD ARCHITECT
Hans Kalkhoven & Amal Habti

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
Hoogerbrugge

INTERIOR ARCHITECT
Thijs Klinkhamer, Amal Habti, Hans Kalkhoven

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Pieters Bouwtechniek

TEAM
André van Veen, Arthur Loomans, Hatice Kilinc, Jannetta Roozendaal, Mădălina Băghiceanu, Sarah Anne Rootert

SERVICES ENGINEER
HE Adviseurs

ACOUSTICS CONSULTANT
Abt

PROJECT LEADER
Hans Kalkhoven, Tobias Thoen

MANUFACTURERS
Betische visuele beleving, De Vorm, Duracryl; Marlin Contract, Flokk (HÅG) , Hey, Hicon, Koos van Os, Muuto, Occony, Schuco, Verwol, Vitra, XAL

CLIENT
Anthura bv

PHOTOGRAPHS
Eva Bloem

AREA
2930 m²

YEAR
2022

LOCATION
Bleiswijk, The Netherlands

CATEGORY
Office Buildings

Atelier PRO designed the new head office for Anthura, a global specialist in plant and seed breeding. Primary goal was to create a contemporary environment where the company could work, meet and receive clients, which expresses its core values and tells 'Anthura's story'.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

AN BUILDING BEFITTING OF ANTHURA

The head office, greenhouses and R&D department of Anthura, a market leader in anthurium and orchid breeding, are located in the glass horticultural area around Bleiswijk, the Netherlands.

The company occupies a state-of-the-art greenhouse complex, and opened a new research centre in 2019. Its office building, however, was severely outdated, and the surrounding outdoor spaces also gave a cluttered and unattractive impression.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

Atelier PRO designed a new head office that improves the company’s outward appearance, serves as a model for the other buildings on site and better reflects the company's international position and innovative, high-tech character.

FROM ‘INNER’ TO ‘OUTER’ WORLD

The floors and load-bearing structure of the existing building have both been reused, whilst the façade and floor plans have been completely redesigned.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

Objective, however, was not only to create a new working space, but also a place where Anthura could receive clients and demonstrate their core business.

Therefore, the office has been connected to the technical 'inner world' of the greenhouses - and in particular to the display greenhouse directly behind it.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

Before the conversion, the façade of the display greenhouse was completely closed to the street; atelier PRO replaced it with a transparent glass screen, which makes the lab-like settings on the inside visible; these serve as a backdrop for the office building.

The office has the same transparent, campus-like appearance, emphasising its relationship with the adjacent laboratories and greenhouses.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

SCALE AND APPEARANCE

An additional challenge was the difference in scale between the greenhouses - with a total floor area of 450,000 m²- and the office building - which totals at about 2,000 m² - and how to bridge this difference so as to emphasise the office’s importance.

To give the office building more 'weight', it was placed on a slightly raised pedestal, visually detaching it from the continuous glass façade behind it.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

Vertical façade elements serve to optically enlarge the building - in part because the individual floors are no longer directly visible - and give it the appearance of a 'large' corporate head office, befitting the size of Anthura.

The verticality also mirrors the typical architecture of the greenhouses - a horizontally articulated building would not fit in with the context.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

FUNCTION AND EXPERIENCE

In the interior, two different experience layers can be distinguished. On the one hand, there is the exhibition layer: publicly accessible spaces which serve as a physical ‘customer journey’ to the display greenhouse.

In order to create a genuine exhibition experience, we collaborated with a graphic designer as well as an exhibition designer.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

Anthura’s members of staff have their own layer, in the heart of the building, around the canteen. The technical areas, with facilities that are not dependent on daylight, are located in the centre of the office building.

All surrounding areas have been kept open as much as possible; flexible workplaces alternate with concentration areas. The overall atmosphere is, yet again, representative of the company, with warm tones, abundant greenery, and perennial and changing plants throughout.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

In addition, Anthura’s character served as the basis for the graphic ‘layer’, which was applied throughout the entire building and includes signage in the outdoor space.

GARDEN AND CONTEXT

Between the office and the greenhouses lies an enclosed garden, designed by Oase Landscape and Urban Design.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

Drawing on the area plan by atelier PRO, Oase were responsible for the overall landscape concept, and succeeded in translating the tropical indoor atmosphere to the outside world.

Anthura successfully demonstrates how a building can act as an identity carrier. The project, however, is also interesting from a wider point of view: greenhouse areas are neither urban nor agricultural.

They are highly built-up, but without any rules regarding building regulation; buildings, therefore, often develop more or less ‘by themselves', without being actively designed.

Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
© Eva Bloem

With the design for Anthura, atelier PRO wants to explore the typical features of these greenhouse areas, and raise questions about the juxtaposition between urbanity and rurality - but also what the future holds for the Dutch landscape.

The project demonstrates that, even in areas where things 'develop by themselves', it is still possible to actively define the environment.


Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
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Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
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Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
Ground Floor Plan
Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
First Floor Plan


Head Office Anthura, Bleiswijk
Site Plan

Atelier Pro Architects
T +31 70 3506900
Atelier Pro Architects
Kerkhoflaan 11a, 2585 JB Den Haag, Netherlands