Telindus Offices - Jo Crepain. Heverlee, 2003
Project type
In thirty years in business the company has employed more than 2500 people all over the world. A company as prominent as this needed a facelift by a famous architect. And so at the end of the '90s Telindus contacted Jo Crepain to come up with new head offices for Heverlee, Belgium.
"Office buildings contribute to the clear identity of a company and in all aspects reinforce the image to a good and tightly structured basis or architectural work-platform for their product", explain the architects.
This is an institutional building intended to represent the company, and yet it is not built using a severe construction vocabulary. On the other hand, it suggests a rhythmic dance of transparent and opaque components, of light and shadow, of full volumes and light volumes. It is horizontally oriented, resting on the park around it, opening up to its colours and to the landscape around it with large glass surfaces. In the centre of the building, at its heart, an open-air courtyard contains a dining area for employees.
The most interesting thing about this project is continuous interaction between interior and exterior spaces: everywhere, the working environments, the dining area and the corridors maintain direct contact with greenery and with the sky, giving the work spaces a relaxing feel that spontaneously encourages concentration.The building looks like a "slab" 100 metres long lying on the land like a sculpture; glass volumes break off from it, each containing offices with panoramic views.
The interiors have a cosy, sensual feel: in some places they recall the softness of silk, as in the entrance, while the café is a warm, colourful, iridescent, ever-changing environment.
The interiors of the transparent volumes and their distribution and organisation are clearly visible by night, when the Telindus offices glow like a diffuse lighthouse in the landscape.
Some have likened Crepain's work for Telindus to a contemporary castle, with a massive cement base out of which a series of glass volumes emerge. "The architect, who dedicated his body and soul to this huge project incorporating 20,000 square metres of office space, has managed to translate and exalt the company's spirit."
Photos courtesy of Toon Grobet
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