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SOZAWE / NL Architects

Nov 2009

NL Architects have designed a stepped volume for the office of SOZAWE (Welfare Department and Work Agency) in the city of Groningen. The design includes an open marketplace which supports the architects’ intentions of creating an “open, inviting and sustainable place.” This public square allows interaction between the department and its customers, and the terracing condition of the building creates cross relations between floors. Each of the nine office floors open to an individual terrace, allowing workers to enjoy fresh air and take in the view of the city.

More images after the break.

All images courtesy of NL Architects. As seen on designboom

34 comments »

henry says:

# November 23, 2009 at 20:44

lanois says:

are you serious with that link? what in the world are you referring to? a sloped profile? there is nothing sloped here.

# November 23, 2009 at 21:19

ks says:

please stop it

# November 24, 2009 at 08:28

Nick says:

BIG Architects anyone?

# November 23, 2009 at 20:48

carlo says:

very similar to the montain!

# November 23, 2009 at 20:48

scarpasez says:

It does feel rather like a BIG project…which is fine with me. This building is light, open and elegant.

# November 23, 2009 at 21:14

mime says:

EVERYONE COPIES EVERYONE. ITS A GOOD PROJECT, AT A GLANCE, I THINK THEY COULD HAVE GONE FURTHER IN TERMS OF THE STEPPED MOUNTAIN. THEY ALREADY HAD THE COPENHAGEN EXAMPLE. WHY NOT PUSH IT EVEN MORE. NOT JUST CHANGE IT FOR THE SAKE OF BEING DIFFERENT THAN BIG’S PROJECT. THAT GLASS CORNER IS PRETTY SWEET, NOT THE MULLIONS, BUT THE SPACE.

# November 23, 2009 at 21:40

emi says:

Smells like BIG spirit.

# November 23, 2009 at 22:00

emi says:

It´s just a joke, it remind me the mountain dweling project, but it´s a more than superfitial view. NL Architects is a great architecture studio and maybe is big who smells like them.

# November 23, 2009 at 22:30

gc says:

why does it matter if it “smells” like another firm? it may be good design strategies catching on – perhaps they are/will build and improve on each other’s ideas

# November 23, 2009 at 22:42

emi says:

totally agree

# November 24, 2009 at 05:52

ks says:

yes, i am so sick and tired of those ‘copy copy copy’ comments. is the way we judge architecture these days is narrowed down to identifying what does the project remind you of? specifically for this one, can’t you see how this project has so many qualities that have nothing to do with mountain dwellings?

# November 24, 2009 at 08:34

Farfan says:

BIG BIG BIG very BIG

# November 24, 2009 at 00:24

Sandor says:

Because it has terraces? Wow, nice to see your architectural knowledge is that developed ..

# November 24, 2009 at 06:38

scarpasez says:

It’s more than just the terracing…it’s also the way the terraces are mirrored “under” the building, and that the space opened up by that stepping has alternate programming.

I think this is a great project and I also think that its design was informed by (among others, surely) some of BIG’s work. I find that a good thing. The idea that architects design in a vacuum or that any new relevant project must look or operate unlike anything before is ludicrous. Innovation doesn’t require a patented “look”. So many people get down on architects for creating work that “looks” like others, or even like their own previous work. Design is a continuum, and the next species in a line of evolution is going to look rather like its predecessor. People who want an aesthetic du jour are empty fashionistas.

# November 24, 2009 at 07:32

Katsudon says:

Yes and the Empire State is so as vertical as Eiffel tower!

# November 24, 2009 at 04:02

Emre says:

Looking at the renders I wouldnt say it was copied from BIG’s project, but seriously, the diagrams ?

# November 24, 2009 at 08:17

bs says:

Very nice rendernings..

# November 24, 2009 at 08:43

xxxtos says:

Yep…looks like BIG…and unfortunately it is not better. “bad artists copy…great artists steal”

# November 24, 2009 at 09:03

ahah says:

Go on NL website, tell me really if they are bad artists…

# November 25, 2009 at 11:11

alucidwake says:

hey guys, get this. if we step the building form up in the direction of the sun, we maximize individual outdoor space and exposure to light! GENIUS!

its a simple concept. BIG was the first to blatantly implement it, and implement it well. just because they did a very simple, basic formal move means no one else can? this has radical different spatial implications with it not being individual units more floors that may be able to use a larger outdoor space better than smaller fragments

# November 24, 2009 at 13:36

xxxtos says:

Terracing is a well known housing type. Used especially frequent in cheesy hotels in southern Spain and other Mediterranean and Caribbean locations. Nobody of any calliber wanted to touch that typology. Then Plot/Big ingenuously re engineered it into something “cool”…and since NL architects are cool too, they did their own version…not cool.

# November 24, 2009 at 19:57

xmmot says:

Ewige Wiederkehr des Gleichen, wasn´t it called like that. avangard architects start to copy stupied looking project!

dear NL: try to hide this projects, or tell them your unterpaid intern did it but please, don´t bother us with it.

# November 24, 2009 at 13:46

hj says:

NL-architects RRROCK! This kind of urban solution has been done waaay before PLOT/BIG and NL is doing a good job at it.

# November 24, 2009 at 14:54

Apa says:

Why reinvent the wheel? The typology worked well in the situation. It is not like BIG were the first to do it.

# November 24, 2009 at 16:58

Travis says:

I think that the strategy is a very effective way of creating density while yet still enabling that suburban desire for private garden space that helps the project (dare I say) sell.

# November 24, 2009 at 20:09

david says:

nice project; if we look for similarities then Emilio Ambasz,s built project in japan is it’s ancestor..

# November 25, 2009 at 05:58

Emilior says:

The form is not new. Candilis has a lot of work in this way. And some others older architects. It really doesn´t matter. It is very dificult to know when and where a typology was created.

# November 25, 2009 at 13:26

Dustin says:

there is a lot of projects like this, just go walking down the beach at a mexican beach and look at the resorts. It’s not bad to copy a typology, it’s good to learn from past successful solutions.

# November 25, 2009 at 14:18

antti says:

terraced housing is nothing new. To me this doesn’t seem like very BIGish even though BIG has been using similar typology. However those trees on the roof seem somehow awkward. Trees need about 1m of soil on top of the roof (less for smaller plants) and it seems that there is probably not enough space reserved for that. Hard to tell because the section was so small.

# November 26, 2009 at 00:40

temple says: