For EDGE Stadium, atelier PRO transformed a single-tenant office in Amsterdam into a futureproof workspace for start-ups and small businesses, setting a new standard for social, innovative and circular design.

Human interaction is at the heart of the transformation: the building’s atrium has been redesigned as a welcoming, greenhouse-like space where people can come together, exchange ideas and inspire each other. Embracing the atrium are two wings with offices and event spaces, which provide different workspaces to a wide array of tenants – a concept which fosters collaboration and innovation.

EDGE Stadium is also a healthy office, with natural materials, lush planting and high air quality. The building encourages people to move: attractive stairwells provide a natural routing, lifts are secondary and one of the meeting rooms even has a walking floor. Overall aim is for the design to contribute to both the mental and physical health of its tenants.

The original building, Forum, was also designed by our studio. Atelier PRO and EDGE share the same values: to build better, with an eye to the future; this means not to just build new buildings, but rather to reuse them and make them more sustainable. This is why EDGE commissioned us to transform Forum; because the building already met many of the requirements, reuse was an easy – and logical – choice.

For the renovation, we opted for a bio-based and circular approach, reusing existing building components and materials whenever possible - like the internal wooden facades from the atrium, which were all reinstalled. What could not be reinstalled on site was reused elsewhere, like the wooden columns and beams from the atrium, which found their way to a riding school. New materials were chosen with care: for the construction, we applied bio-based wood, while all the furniture in the atrium also comes from a circular source.

The sustainability of a building also lies in aspects like the air quality and internal climate; here, smart technology plays an important role. The buildings installations have been adapted to today's requirements, and the - for those days quite unique - thermal storage system from 2001 was upgraded. We adhered to the highest standards - BREEAM Excellent and WELL Core & Shell Platinum - and EDGE Stadium is also the first R2S-certified building with two stars in the Netherlands.

However, to be truly sustainable, offices should be vibrant, blended-use buildings that serve a wider purpose. This is why we created a workspace which consciously reaches out to the neighbourhood. The atrium is thé place where EGDE Stadium's social impact is felt most strongly: it is actively used by the tenants, but is also a place where people can meet for coffee or lunch. Outside office hours, the atrium is regularly used for special events - work-out sessions, silent discos, orchestral rehearsals. Coffee, concerts, dancing - anything goes in inspiring surroundings.