MIDRAS

Text ENG The existing situation consists of a central volume flanked by two uniform wings. The assignment was to transform the central volume into a dynamic office building with a housing-unit. At the frontside of the building the architects chose not to break the strong horizontality but to enhance it instead by creating a balanced composition of stacked white volumes. The spacing between these massive volumes and the recessed windows creates an interesting number of vistas. In strong contrast with the existing wings of the building nothing of the interior organization is given away from the outside: the volume protects itself from the busy road situated in front of it. The interior organization is composed in a manner to allow a maximum amount of natural daylight into the building, between the two 10meter high walls separating the central volume from the adjacent buildings. The office is located on the ground floor, level -1 and level +1. The penthouse with terraces stretches out from front to back on the upper floor . On the backside a 3 story high lightshaft is brought into the building while at the frontside a void separates level +1 from the façade and creates a relation with the underlying floors. On the ground level two staircases connect to floor -1 in a way that it becomes fully a part of the office.