WHO WE ARE
Established in 2019, Office Raumplan combines architecture and development in one office. We have a broad project portfolio that includes hotels, offices and hospitality in addition to our core focus of residential buildings. We operate in both new construction and transformations and for each task we engage in a search for the appropriate architecture for the program, the user and the location. We are not fashionable or dogmatic, but draw on the rich basis of architectural history to design the appropriate contextual building in new combinations for each task. If the project calls for it, we do not shy away from new forms or materials, but innovation is never an end in itself. Especially at a time when the environment is constantly subject to change, we see architecture as a stable support, and the city and its buildings are best served by long-term intentions.
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HOW WE WORK
Although we embrace building history in typology and formal language, it is precisely in sustainability that we seek a modern response, again never being dogmatic. We look for the optimal sustainability strategy per assignment. This may be by embedding flexibility in a shell with a long lifespan, or by embracing changeability through a detachable building methodology. There is no single answer to sustainability, and by experimenting in the various sustainable assignments we work on, we seek our position as a firm in this discussion. For example, we are currently developing four projects in timber construction, working on a passive residential building with as few installations as possible and working on the most nature-inclusive housing project in the Netherlands.
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WHY WE DEVELOP
The choice to combine architecture and development in our office is very deliberate. Not only to be proactive in acquiring and developing our own projects, but also to have a more sustainable vision and quality control within these projects. In fact, we notice in our traditional projects that our influence is getting smaller and smaller and the focus is often on other topics than we would like. We are currently (co)developing several projects in our own development firm Plan Libre Development, which gives us room to expand our architectural agenda and add more quality, without compromising on the feasibility.
WHAT WE STAND FOR
We share a strong fondness for housing,
housing forms the bulk of the urban program and thus has the greatest influence on the perception and quality of the city we live in. At the same time, we see an impoverishment in housing construction in the Netherlands with a focus on the "economy of means". This often manifests itself in a retrenchment of the variety and richness of facades, floorplans, and entrances. In our projects, we therefore work from the quality of the residential program to create quality homes with interesting vistas, both in plan and section. The name Raumplan is therefore also polemically chosen. It describes the architecture of Adolf Loos and how he sought specific spatial qualities per room with an exciting transition in routing and linking. He created vistas that revealed spatiality in the third dimension and the relationship between the different rooms in the house.
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WHAT WE RESEARCH
We use our design and cooperative building development expertise not only to research alternative ways to construct an architectural project but also develop this framework further to alternatively develop larger urban areas. As a former 'Architect in Residence' at ARMCAM we researched the potential of cooperative housing development within the city. Currently we are expanding this research and developing an alternative urban development strategy for de Baaibuurt in Amsterdam together with Het Baaibuurt Collectief. De Baaibuurt is one of the few urban fringes left waiting to be 'top down' developed. By empowering the current residents and entrepreneurs, and working together with the right group of experts we believe an alternative future is possible. Becoming one of the pilot areas to look out for regarding social, affordable and inclusive area development in the city.