Sprank project SFI

While the old work environment consisted of various islands, we have tried to make it much more into a whole now.

Due to the redevelopment of the area where SFI Rotterdam BV was located, the fruit importer was forced to find a new accommodation. This is of course not the usual situation, which makes it all the more important to involve the management and employees of this family business intensively in the trajectory of creating their new work environment.

Creating support was very important in this project. So we spoke extensively with various employees about their wishes and ideas. Thanks to the conscious approach of this issue, they got an increasingly clear picture of what was lacking in the old location and how this should be solved in the new one. After all, such a more or less forced relocation also offers opportunities. We have tried to help customers make the right choice without deviating from the companies DNA. One of SFI’s wishes was that furniture would be taken along from the former location. Pieces of furniture that were well and robustly made, but had also been affected by the ravages of time.

The building that SFI moved to was completed from a shell. By literally drawing lines on the inner and outer walls we made all the options visible to our customers.

Besides that, it was a search for the right balance between old and new. In the new setting, the old furniture gained new life. We adjusted the colour motif of the new elements to the old inventory we had taken along.

While the old work environment consisted of various islands, we have tried to make it much more into a whole now. For instance, the kitchen is now literally in the heart of the building, giving more space to the social character of this family business on the work floor. We also created a place where you can make a private call or discuss something with a nice view of the river Maas. Incidentally, that same river Maas is also visible in some elements of the design, such as the carpet, which evokes a feeling of flow and movement.

As we involved customers in all steps of the entire process, there were no real surprises upon completion. In this case, that was a highly positive note.

Photographer: Chiela van Meerwijk

SFI

While the old work environment consisted of various islands, we have tried to make it much more into a whole now.

The building that SFI moved to was completed from a shell. By literally drawing lines on the inner and outer walls we made all the options visible to our customers.

Designers and makers of office environments that work better