Office for Ogilvy

Photographs by Jeroen Musch, Courtesy of Studio Ramin Visch.

Photographs by Jeroen Musch, Courtesy of Studio Ramin Visch.

Photographs by Jeroen Musch, Courtesy of Studio Ramin Visch.

It is an infill strategy that is admittedly not new, but it has rarely been implemented on such a scale and with such an architectural design. In many regards the Ogilvy office really does have the character of a covered exterior space. Here and there one see some little pavilion-type buildings between the long rows of work tables. There are two 'glass boxes' on pillars for meeting rooms that remind one distinctly of the famous glass houses of Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson in their design and detailing. And there are four 'black boxes' of untreated steel, with raised work floors but invisible from below, built on cocoons containing small offices. And two wooden sheds with red boards form an entrance portal and company kitchen respectively.

For that matter, there is nothing provisional about the way that Witteveen and Visch have developed the concept of 'light urbanism' in a covered exterior area; rather it testifies to a strong desire for technical perfection. The pavilions are exceptionally neat and minimalist in their detail. Moreover, they are not placed freestanding under the roof, but have good solid foundations underneath the concrete floor. The concrete floor itself is anything but authentic, as it is located 35 centimetres above the original factory floor to provide room for invisible floor insulation, services and cable ducts. Reverberation is avoided by applying a strong sound-absorbent layer on the underside of the shed roofs.

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