None of us would fancy working in an office right above a fishmonger. Similar was the case with web design studio, Acato. Instead of sitting with folded hands, as most of us would, Acato instead hired BBVH Architects, a Rotterdom-based firm, to remodel a 19th Century Church building into an office for them. The church located in the center of Hague, Netherlands, was in dire straits. It met none of the codes for sustainability and safety, so BBVH Architects were staring into a herculean task. The building required extensive refurbishment, and the budget was tight, so the architects created two sets of stairs dividing the unplanned building into three separate units first up.
This allowed the architects to transform the large church hall into the Acato office while the choir balcony was remodeled into a meeting room. A steel staircase draped in wood leads from the office to the meeting room. The floors above the office, towards the front of the building are now transformed into two apartments. The office area decorated with industrial-style pendent lights was revivified with bright yellow paint and the area covered with flower pots containing live plants, which along with the tall ceilings make the space airy. Interestingly, the walls of the building are insulated with double glass windows, and the floor is installed with seashells to make the space naturally well-lit and to control humidity respectively.
Via: Design-Milk
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