Verwol is an interior contractor company founded in 1976. Since then it has developed into a market leader in partition walls, suspended ceilings, climate ceilings, exclusive panelling and complete interior concepts. The company largely develops and produces its own components. Their offices are based in the Netherlands in the towns of Opmeer and Delft. Proof of the sum was commissioned by Verwol for the complete interior renovation of their head office in Opmeer. The assignment was to create the ideal working environment for a company that in its turn creates working environments for (inter)national companies, governments and institutions on a daily basis. The corporate culture of Verwol is based on no-nonsense, hard work and continuous innovations. These characteristics have shaped the company in the past 40 years and developed the organization into a one-stop supplier that develops, manufactures, produces and assembles its own products. Verwol is an ideal example of a company that largely looks for innovation for their (future) success. Continuous innovations in a company depend on knowledge sharing and knowledge management. Therefore, we approached this project from our insight into the theory of knowledge sharing in organizations and focused on providing them the space that will assist in expanding their intellectual capital on an everyday basis. To be realized through an office configuration that encourages knowledge exchange, awareness and collaboration but equally offers work spaces to focus and concentrate. At the office in Opmeer, sales, calculation, engineering and project management work together per division in teams. These teams are supported by marketing, finance, IT, HR and management. Each team consists of sales, calculations, engineers and project leaders. They spend different amounts of time in and out of office and have varying needs in terms of focus and collaboration. We took all these aspects into consideration to implement an office plan that will support the concept of knowledge creation and exchange. This knowledge sharing design can be achieved on different scales. The reconfiguration and renovation of the Verwol head office is an example of a small-scale project. Small scale meaning that the guidelines for reconfiguration are derived from how people in the company are organized in teams and how these teams relate to each other. The focus was on team collocation which supports on-going interaction, information sharing, crisis management, spontaneous meetings and forced walking lines. All which are especially important when demand for innovation is high. The basic level of knowledge sharing between individuals takes place through socialization. The office layout is based on the metaphor of a medieval street. The metaphor is used as an ordering principle. The street connects different teams, divisions and different areas throughout the whole length of the building. The wide floors of the existing building (built in 1992) gave us the opportunity to create this dynamic social heart with ample space for separate focus-work areas by placing them in the façade areas. The central street creates opportunities to share while the focus areas next to the façade provide space for focusing, concentration, broadening individual knowledge and trust, which increases the motivation to share. The central street accommodates socialization - unplanned meetings, brief interactions and spontaneous conversations. It creates opportunities for members of different divisions to meet and share knowledge. The dynamics and intricacy of this zone create the atmosphere of a medieval street. Mingling, movement, consultation and unconscious knowledge sharing. Knowing what a colleague is doing or which new project will start soon, will happen automatically. All meeting places are projected at this heart of the floor plan: stand-up tables, places for unfolding drawings, digital screens for project consultation, meeting rooms, coffee facilities, writable walls and demo rooms for new products. On the other hand, calculators and engineers will find a quiet workplace on the façade zones. Allowing them to do concentrated work and error-free engineering. This focused-work area is separated from the dynamic heart by the office spaces of salespeople and project managers. Since they are often in and out of the office and have more frequent internal and external consultations, the sense of awareness and visual connection between them and the other team members is established through forced movement patterns, achieved by the strategic position of the office doors. Even though members of the same team work in different environments, transparent divisions and movement patterns give them the sense of awareness of the other team members and other divisions on the same floor. Visual accessibility is one of the design parameters for knowledge sharing. In the design of the new office for Verwol, transparency, views and visual relationships were deliberately considered for each location in the map.
Verwol Headquarter
Proof of the sum
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Justine Fox
Cofounder | Colour Specialist
at Calzada Fox
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5
4
5
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Tina Norden
Partner
at Conran and Partners
Clearly a lot of thought has gone i...
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8
4
5
5.25

Ruud Belmans
Creative Director
at WeWantMore
I'm afraid the limited selection of...
3
5
3
5
4

Anne-Rachel Schiffmann
Director of Interior Architecture
at Snøhetta
A clean and professional-looking of...
5
6
5
5
5.25

Omar Abdelghafour
Founder Principal
at Light Space Design
Clever lighting transparent yet pri...
7
9
8
8
8

Sonia Tomic
Senior Associate, Head of Furniture & Materials
at Universal Design Studio
Lovely sense of simplicity, proport...
6
7
7
5
6.25

Leni Popovici
Founding Director and Partner
at KAP Studios
Minimal palettes can create really...
4
5
5
5
4.75

Veronica Givone
Managing Director Hospitality
at IA Interior Architects
Im sure the space is very functiona...
5
7
4
5
5.25

Christiaan Fokkema
Partner
at Hollandse Nieuwe
The fundamental thought process beh...
7
8
6
5
6.5

Stefan Weil
CCO
at Atelier Markgraph
Clear, minimalistic, a classic usag...
4
4
4
4
4

Gudy Herder
Trend Consultant
at Eclectic Trends
The overall look is friendly, full...
6
7
6
4
5.75

Mengjie Liu
Cofounder
at Sò Studio
5
6
5
5
5.25

Yifan Wu
Cofounder
at Sò Studio
5
7
6
6
6

Liam Doyle
Principal
at Jump Studios
4
5
4
5
4.5

Justine Fox
Cofounder | Colour Specialist
at Calzada Fox
4
5
4
5
4.5

Tina Norden
Partner
at Conran and Partners
Clearly very functional and intende...
4
6
4
4
4.5

Ruud Belmans
Creative Director
at WeWantMore
Feels like there was too much singl...
4
5
3
4
4

Anne-Rachel Schiffmann
Director of Interior Architecture
at Snøhetta
A clean and professional-looking of...
5
6
6
5
5.5

Omar Abdelghafour
Founder Principal
at Light Space Design
Clever lighting transparent yet pri...
9
9
9
7
8.5

Sonia Tomic
Senior Associate, Head of Furniture & Materials
at Universal Design Studio
Lovely sense of simplicity, proport...
6
7
7
5
6.25

Leni Popovici
Founding Director and Partner
at KAP Studios
The design has a strong conceptual...
5
9
5
5
6

Veronica Givone
Managing Director Hospitality
at IA Interior Architects
I'm sure this space is very practic...
6
8
6
5
6.25

Christiaan Fokkema
Partner
at Hollandse Nieuwe
The fundamental thought process beh...
5
7
5
5
5.5

Stefan Weil
CCO
at Atelier Markgraph
Clear, minimalistic, a classic usag...
5
5
5
5
5

Gudy Herder
Trend Consultant
at Eclectic Trends
I love the idea of how employees fi...
6
9
6
4
6.25

Mengjie Liu
Cofounder
at Sò Studio
5
6
6
5
5.5

Yifan Wu
Cofounder
at Sò Studio
6
7
6
6
6.25

Liam Doyle
Principal
at Jump Studios
4
5
4
5
4.5
Designer
Client
Verwol Totale Projectinrichting
Floor area
1600 ㎡
Completion
2020
Architect
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