Jvantspijker urbanism architecture has redesigned the main space of an old steam factory in the Delfshaven neighborhood of Rotterdam, to become an open loft office. A central glass meeting room,[...]

© René de Wit
Jvantspijker urbanism architecture has redesigned the main space of an old steam factory in the Delfshaven neighborhood of Rotterdam, to become an open loft office. A central glass meeting room, with a pantry and stairs leading to the plant-filled roof organizes the large warehouse space in a single sweeping gesture, transforming it into a generous and optimistic working space.

The transformed office space is situated in a waterfront factory, called ?De Fabriek van Delfshaven?. De Fabriek is a multi-tenant building in which a large number of creative offices are housed. In the last two years, this factory has become a vibrant working community where design studios, software companies and progressive small businesses are housed together in one of the oldest areas of Rotterdam. © René de Wit
The central design idea behind the transformation of the office was to keep the scale, transparency and lightness in place and to connect the office to the main atrium of the building. Therefore the central element was designed as a hybrid between a room, a wall and a piece of furniture; it divides, connects and provides service space.

In a single continuous gesture, a wooden shape takes on the function of wall-cladding, floor, wall, kitchen and roof. The new element uses ...