First Paris Proof national monument in the Netherlands!

How do past, present and future come together in one building? We see this in the new headquarters of dsm-firmenich. This monumental vocational school and former cinema has been transformed into ultra-sustainable headquarters.

The new headquarters is located in the center of Maastricht, right in the bustling Wyck district. The healthy and green working environment with “clubhouse feeling” was completed in March 2024 as underpinning the company’s hybrid way of working. The new building meets Breeam Outstanding certification and the national monument is the first transformation in the Netherlands to achieve Paris Proof. In addition, the headquarters meets the Well Platinum standard.

In May, we celebrated the grand opening of the new headquarters with a special visit from Queen Máxima. How did we manage this process? Collaboration, co-creation and community building.

We asked our colleague Okan Turkcan, who was closely involved in this project as project coordinator, about his view on community building

The key for Community Building

Designing buildings where people can meet and be happy is what I get the most pleasure from. I like to bring people together in collective places, because I love spaces like that myself.

So in your day-to-day work, what does community building come down to?
Putting your heads together and accomplishing something together. During my time playing basketball, I learned as a team captain that together you get the best results. I see this the same way in my daily work. Bringing together all the advisors, clients and end users, but of course also the team internally. All part of community building.

You have to keep in mind the preferences of many different stakeholders; how do you do that?
That is the art of being an architect. It almost comes naturally, because in architecture all the knowledge comes together. It always remains a sort of compromise, because you work with various partners. This is precisely what makes the profession fun and challenging. You multiply different interests so that they strengthen each other.

Getting all stakeholders on the same mission, is that community building for you too?
Not everyone needs to be on the same page, differences in opinion are part of the process. But I do believe that you have to work together towards a goal. That is the biggest success factor. A philosophy that inspires me is the Japanese ‘kyosei’, applied by Canon EMEA: ‘living and working together for the common good’. That one works together for a common good. Coming together to create a whole.

And at the bottom of the line, when is a project really successful for you?
The overall picture has to be right. This is at different scales, as Bakema said, ”from chair to city.” The design is well thought out, people are satisfied, it suits the end user and the organization, it is sustainable, I could go on and on….

This total picture Okan talks about is well reflected at dsm-firmenich. Want to know more about this groundbreaking Paris Proof office? Check out our project page here.