Momentum / Workspace and Sales area

Momentum, a large and rugged space with a fantastic view across the water separating Zeeburg from Borneo island.

Our brief for Momentum was to provide a layout that can be used partly as a workspace and partly as a sales area for their projects in countries such as Costa Rica, Turkey, Morocco, and Spain. We began with the question: “How the sales area should look?” The clients buying houses in these countries do not do so out of necessity, or even out of practical consideration; they buy because they are looking for an experience, an emotion. We wished to create a space that will reflect something of this experience; to create an impression of already being in that country. Because of life in Costa Rica, Turkey, Morocco, and Spain is more of an outdoor than indoor experience, we realized the brief asked for an ‘exterior’ solution – a landscape in which the various building components can nestle. The design is divided into two important parts: the floor and the ceiling. All new technical components added to the existing technology will be channeled through the ceiling. Meanwhile, the floor will serve as a continuous landscape, with slight differences in level, from which the walls and furniture will rise. In terms of form, the space consists of three concentric rings. A central ‘square’ with a bar and a kitchen is surrounded by a ‘data’ ring, which contains information on the various projects on screens, with places to read, and a projection area. This, in turn, is enclosed in a third, outer ring, where visitors can think, relax and take in the view. The landscape erases the strict division between work and exhibition space and allows for flexibility and easy change of use. We did not limit ourselves to the use of visual elements to evoke emotions but enriched the experience of faraway destinations by adding the scent of local cuisine and sounds of the various areas, which visitors can smell and hear when they sit beneath one of the domes. The space is by no means finished, but – like a landscape – it will grow and evolve.