Words by Isabelle Pinto | Photography by various
Intelligent and sustainable, this award-winning office building in Amsterdam revolutionizes the way people work – just by connecting your smartphone to the office via an app.
Ever imagined driving to your office on a regular morning and on reaching the parking basement, the building immediately recognises your car number plate and grants you access. And as you enter, you are directly shown to an empty parking spot- no hassle at all in finding one on your own!
Upon walking into the building, you are immediately directed to the appropriate working space for your task. If your plan is to answer e-mails for an hour, you’ll be shown to a desk; or if you want to make some phone calls, you’ll be directed to a quiet room where there is maybe just a lounge chair and a lamp-perfect for the task at hand.
When you enter your allocated work space, the temperature and lighting have already been adjusted to just the way you like it. In the middle of working, you get a little drowsy and decide to get a strong cup of black coffee, no sugar. You go to the coffee machine and it already knows your coffee preference, making you the perfect cup.
All these may seem like just a glimpse into the future, isn’t it? You can’t be more wrong! They are all happening right now at Deloitte’s Headquarters in Amsterdam!
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INNOVATION THROUGH CONNECTIVITY
Aptly named “The Edge”, this one-of-a-kind office building was opened in 2014, housing both Deloitte (main tenant) and law firm AKD. Looking at the various advanced functions of the building, you may think that new technologies made them possible but Ron Bakker, Founding Partner of PLP Architecture who was one of the lead architects of the project, said otherwise. “There are no new technologies really,” he mentioned in a Skype interview with Asian Property Review. “But the ingredients of this smart building- the way they come together is really innovative.” The multiple technological facilities experienced throughout the building are, in fact, the result of a combination of various existing software.
At the Edge, it is all about connectivity. Courtesy of a smartphone app developed with Deloitte, all its employees are connected to the building throughout the whole day. It is due to this app that the building knows all the employees’ personal information, from their car number plate and work schedule, right down to their temperature and lighting preferences, and even how they take their coffee! The app is so efficient that you can even use it to find your colleagues. On the other hand, if you decide to be alone and don’t want anyone to know of your whereabouts, you can also set the app to do just that.
When the printer in the office runs out of paper, just alert the building through your smartphone. Even the coffee machines are connected to the building’s computer, so the building knows when the milk or coffee beans have run out. The app even connects to the local transport information service. So, from your breakfast table at home, you can decide whether to take the car or train, or cycle to work. You can even use it to buy your lunch, and fresh food to take home in the evenings.
At the Edge, your smartphone is your most utilised tool. And you don’t even have to worry about finding a power outlet to charge it as the built-in wireless chargers in all the office desks would take care of that. Massive flatscreens which can be synced wirelessly to your phone and laptop are also available around every corner.
The building also employs cutting-edge Ethernet-powered LED panels by Philips. These are essentially a network of light fixtures that are connected to the building’s main circuit. The lighting system, however, does more than illuminate the building – it is also equipped with 30,000 sensors that measure occupancy, lighting levels, temperature, etc, helping the building to adjust its energy
usage accordingly.
The technology even provides convenience to the cleaners who will be alerted through their iPads on the work spaces and toilets that require cleaning. So, if on a particular day, an office level is not utilised at all, the lights and air conditioning would remain switched off while no cleaning duties will be assigned in the area. This brings a whole lot of savings in energy and servicing costs. Revolutionary as it is, this technology by Philips has been around for some time though The Edge was the first building to use it.
FLEXIBLE SPACES
In line with modern working culture which focuses on flexibility and communication, employees at The Edge do not have fixed desks or workspaces. “In Deloitte, they have 2,500 workers but they only have 1,000 work spaces,” said Bakker. These spaces come in various types- work-booths, conference rooms, sitting desks and standing desks. The app would help suggest available work spaces for them based on their specified task.
Some of you may feel it troublesome not having a fixed work space but this isn’t necessarily bad as the main aim here is to encourage new interactions, besides optimising the use of space. And lockers are provided to store your personal belongings for the day, so you need not carry them around.
A rather interesting space within The Edge is its 15-storey atrium which was also designed to encourage interaction between employees and to promote a sense of belonging to the organisation. Designed akin to a stage in the middle of the offices surrounding it, the space is a favourite amongst the employees due to its spacious, open environment which effortlessly draws sunlight in.
It is not only deemed great for work, but is also ideal for a chat over a cup of coffee or a lunch gathering. The space also allows for good ventilation, as used air from the offices gets sucked off from the top. In fact, the whole form and orientation of the building in itself bring natural daylight to most of its workspaces while shades efficiently cover the sunny parts for natural cooling.
‘WORLD’S MOST SUSTAINABLE OFFICE’
Due to its abundance in sustainability features, The Edge has proudly been named the ‘World’s Most Sustainable Office Building’ by BREEAM, a highly-regarded global assessor of sustainable buildings. With an outstanding score of 98.4%, it recorded the highest rating ever given to an office building.
In terms of electricity, the building is said to generate 70% savings when compared to a typical office building. It even produces its own power through solar panels installed on its southern façade as well as its roof. More panels have even been placed on the roofs of neighbouring educational institutions – University of Amsterdam and the Hogeschool of Amsterdam – making it produce more electricity than it consumes.
For heating and cooling of the building, an aquifer thermal energy storage about 130 meters underground is used to generate all the energy it requires. Through this system, warm water is pumped deep into the aquifer underground during summer where it is stored until winter – just in time to be sucked back out for heating. A similar process happens in reverse for cooling.
Although the building automatically practises sustainability through its advanced features, its tenants are constantly kept informed of the sustainability targets. Through their smartphone, they can easily check the energy consumption of the building, and even the amount of rainwater collected the previous day.
SUSTAINABILITY COST
Hearing of all the brilliant technological advancements at the Edge, we were indeed curious about the amount of investment put into it. Without revealing the actual figure which Bakker himself admitted he isn’t privy to, he replied: “For Deloitte, every time there is a sustainability measure and a cost attached to it, they would work out the return on investment; and if the return can come within 10 years, they have always decided to go for it.”
Last but not least, we put forward the big question: “Is this the building of the future?”
“Yes, at least for a little bit,” said Bakker with a slight hint of laughter. We too would like to believe so. If all our future work spaces were to be as connected as The Edge, it would indeed be a breeze to go to work.
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