EMA Office

The Made in Italy porcelain surfaces by Refin has been chosen for an important building of worldwide relevance: the new headquarters of the European Medicines Agency in Amsterdam.

Designed by Fokkema&Partners Architecten, MVSA Architects, Okra Landscape Architects and Architect Fokke van Dijk of The Dutch Governement Real Estate Agency, the new EMA office is one of the winning projects of the international competition  Refin Project Contest 2020, conceived to reward the best architecture and interior design projects made with Refin tiles.

The new headquarters of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in Amsterdam communicates the institutional and professional values of the body responsible for the quality and safety of new medicines admitted to the European market. The international project, with the collaboration of several prestigious partners and the Dutch government, has been carried out within very tight deadlines: a success made possible by a process with a high degree of co-creation characterised by complexity, speed and innovative technologies.  

The large 19-storey office building, with numerous meeting and conference rooms, lounges, offices and bar area, accommodates 1,300 workstations: designed to the highest standards of sustainability and to improve the visual, climatic and acoustic well-being of users, the rooms guarantee natural orientation, flexibility of use and configurations suitable for different daily activities.

More than 52,000 plants make up the huge vertical green wall, 60-metre high, an organic ribbon that rises from the entrance square to the top floor.

The high quality of Refin surfaces has been chosen for this important building of worldwide relevance. Floors and walls are made with the Blue Emotion collection, a material inspired by stone that could be placed in a work place with such a high attendance thanks to the technical performance offered by ceramics. With their sober elegance, the surfaces confirm the image of authority, modernity and global attraction expressed by the furnishings and interior elements.

The Blue Emotion porcelain tile collection is inspired by the dark and vivid hues of the Belgian Bluestone, whose different machining generates two uniquely appealing surfaces.  Scié is a new interpretation of the smooth surface of a cut stone, featuring the marks left by the blades and differently coloured strips. Flammé is a flambé finish with dark grey, almost black hues, the ones of a highly heated natural stone.