FAIRPHONE SHOWS COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY WITH HEAD OFFICE DESIGN

An open plan office in Amsterdam that uses environmentally friendly materials

Melinda Delst Interior Design created a 1300 sqm space this year to serve as head office for Fairphone, a socially conscious smartphone manufacturer who puts sustainability first. Located in Amsterdam in an old warehouse built in 1884, the office has a great view on both the river IJ and the city. The company’s needs called for an open, transparent headquarters that would utilize environmentally friendly, reused materials. The main challenge for Melinda Delst Interior Design was to find creative ways of reusing materials with a limited budget and a deadline of just two months. Collaborating with Studio Modderman, the designers managed to express the company’s values while leaving the original structural features of the warehouse intact.

The centralization of informal meeting areas and closed meeting rooms allowed the placement of a large kitchen/bar area near the entrance of the office, while materials such as wood and steel add definition to the open-plan office. Existing window frames from previous tenants were stripped, repainted and used to create closed meeting spaces and skype-booths. The walls are cladded with rubberwood, a waste product of the rubber industry, while raw steel creates a contrast with the wooden frames in the warehouse. Small “living rooms” for informal meetings are equipped with used furniture and lighting that comes from eBay or second-hand charity stores, and plants and vintage lights hang from the wooden ceiling and beams to create hanging gardens. The space ultimately owes its success to the design team’s dynamism and creativity, which continually referred back to Fairphone’s emphasis of reuse over new production throughout the process.