In a streamlined collaboration, an architect takes an interior designer on the slipstream, so that both better achieve their goals. However, such a one-two punch requires letting go and sharp communication, architect Daan Font Freide of RoosRos Architects and Luc Scholten, co-owner of Sprank Interiorprojects, also know.
After several projects realised together, RoosRos Architects and Sprank Interiorprojects have long since ceased to be strangers to each other. For instance, the parties joined forces for the new construction of Koni in Oud Beijerland and the Dutch head office of construction giant Besix in Dordrecht. Beautiful projects in which the architects from Oud Beijerland and the interior architects from Rotterdam were able to lift both plan and execution to a higher level.
“I see such cooperation as two cars driving together in the slipstream. One of them really pulls the other one along, while the other also makes it easier and better to drive again,’ says Daan Font Freide. ‘Or call it one plus one is three.”
“To be honest: it is really terrifying and exciting to be able to ask: do you take a critical look at those interior spaces as we have drawn them? It’s a matter of letting go.”
Not every architect will immediately be eager to have another party take a critical look at what you have found and come up with. ‘To be honest: it is really terrifying and exciting to be able to ask: will you take a critical look at those interior spaces as we have drawn them? It’s a matter of letting go. But also of trust. You have to have a personal click with the interior designer you work with and be convinced that they really do know the ins and outs and the bits and bites of a well-functioning interior better anyway.’
‘We obviously have to be able to firmly substantiate from our work why we are doing something,’ adds Luc Scholten, co-owner of Sprank. ‘Not just shouting something, but really looking at the user. Ultimately, of course, both architect and interior designer have the same goal: that the user comes into his own there.’
Both Daan and Luc foresee a future in which the symbiosis between architect and interior architect will become increasingly important. ‘You often win on details,’ Daan believes. ‘And here you really need the expertise of an agency like Sprank.’
Acoustics and climate, for instance, are decisive details. ‘The indoor climate simply has to be top-notch,’ says Luc. ’You can have created an incredibly hip coffee bar in your office, but if it’s too hot or too noisy, nobody really wants to be there. In both Daan’s field and mine, you have to keep that very much in mind.’
Since the corona crisis, issues have surfaced to which both architects and interior designers will have to start coming up with solutions. The dynamics of who is in the office are becoming increasingly flexible. ‘You saw such a development earlier with the number of people starting to work part-time, which gave birth to the term FTE. With the growth of working from home, we should actually invent a new term to gain insight into the attendance rate within a company: because from those FTEs, you can also subtract the hours when people are not fully present in the office.’
‘You need a place where you can work, but also where people come together, that much is clear,’ believes Luc. ’The biggest danger of increased flexibility is that you lose the group feeling. That you run out of RoosRossers and Sprankers, for example. If you always work from home anyway and never see colleagues: why not switch every so often?’
Making room for co-creation is, as far as I’m concerned, a development that both Daan and Luc welcome hard. ‘That in every office there are places not only for their own employees, but also for those of other companies, or self-employed people,’ says Luc. ’That way you make the workplace more interesting and dynamic. Moreover, not only is it more fun, you usually learn a lot when someone from another company spends a day working in your office.’