WORK
An Amsterdam
workspace got 601
architects involved
in its design
AMSTERDAM – They used to call it the
Widow of the Zuidas. The plain-looking
building, located in the budding business
district on the south side of Amsterdam,
had been vacant and forgotten for nearly a
decade. That was until Boudewijn Poelmann,
a man known for his visionary endeavours,
saw beyond the rough concrete columns, the
grey walls and the uninspired atrium.
Poelmann is the founder of the Goede
Doelen Loterijen, a multi-lottery organi-
zation that has turned the Dutch love of
random numbers into donations for charity
programmes in developing countries – since
1990, its contributions total more than seven
billion euros, making it one of the largest
private donors in the world. He also came up
with the then-preposterous concept of the
now crazily successful Postcode Lottery: bet
on your neighbourhood and split any win-
nings with your neighbours. Poelmann has
built a small empire based on creative think-
ing, collaboration and an ethos of sharing
with others.
So, when he used a company-wide
breakfast in 2014 to announce that the 600
employees dispersed throughout 11 houses
along the lush Vondelpark would be mov-
ing to a single location, the staff were ready
to follow his lead. And, oh, did they ask for
as many as 600 impossible things after that
breakfast. There was a rainwater-collection
system for the toilets. An energy-positive
building. Solar panels everywhere. Anauditorium they could share with the neigh-
bours. A proper restaurant open to the pub-
lic. Studios and newsrooms for Koffietijd and
5 Uur Live, the TV shows they sponsor. An
Italian piazza. A yoga studio with a view of
the city. Oh, and they wanted to take the Von-
delpark with them. ‘And we gave them almost
everything they asked for,’ laughs Saartje van
der Made, the partner at Benthem Crouwel
Architects who oversaw the renovation.
Benthem Crouwel is better known
for its massive public projects, such as the
celebrated Rotterdam Central Station and the
giant bathtub on Amsterdam’s Museumplein- a building officially known as the Stedelijk
Museum. The Zuidas project was the first
time Van der Made worked with a client »
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