ArchitectureWeek People and Places: Sigmax Headquarters • Architectenbureau Paul de Ruiter • Enschede, the Netherlands

The new Sigmax headquarters, in Enschede, the Netherlands, was designed by Paul de Ruiter Architects. Photo: © Pieter Kers

Located on a suburban office park site in Enschede, the Netherlands, a new headquarters building for Sigmax was designed by Architectenbureau Paul de Ruiter. The four-story building features a horizontally uninterrupted glass facade that emphasizes access to daylighting. The building's interior spaces were designed by Ex Interiors.

The 2,500-square-meter (27,000-square-foot) building has been designed in the form of a "stacked pavilion," whose horizontal lines and extensive glass facade with rounded corners emphasize spaciousness and transparency. The glazing comprises large, rectangular floor-to-ceiling panels whose joints align with the building's structural grid. And quarter-circle glass panels form the rounded-corner bridge between adjacent facades.

The rectangular floor-to-ceiling glass panels of the Sigmax building's facade are sized to the building's structural grid. Photo: © Pieter Kers

The thin building floor plates provide minimal interruption of the glass facade and accentuates the building's sense of horizontality. The portions of each floor plate that cantilevers beyond the glazing work to provide shading of the glass and are intended to develop as a vegetal "roof." The architects intended this feature to produce a sense of connection to the landscape, even on the upper floors.

Each floor plate of the Sigmax headquarters cantilevers well beyond the glazing, providing shade. Photo: © Pieter Kers

Sigmax is an information technology company which provides innovative mobile solutions for, among other things, the enforcement and monitoring tasks of municipal councils, police forces, and public transport. The company wanted to combine its two departments in a new office, with room for further expansion. Thus, the design of the building is attuned to the work process and organization of Sigmax.

The design of the new Sigmax building is compact. The floors are planned with efficiency in mind, using a flexible layout that combines discrete office "cells" with open office spaces. Each floor is organized around a central atrium. And a prominent white spiral staircase provides the primary vertical circulation path, offering glimpses between floors.

The main spiral staircase of the Sigmax building. Photo: © Pieter Kers

About half of the building's ground floor is devoted to an uninterrupted space that doubles as a lobby and staff dining area. The remaining portion of the ground floor and most of the building's other floors are composed of office space.

The ground-floor lobby and staff dining space of the Sigmax building. Photo: © Scagliola Brakkee Fotografie

According to the architects, the building's placement and orientation on its site are both a direct response to solar access concerns. As part of the climate control strategy, the building's floor-plate cantilever is said to vary on each side of the building. The underside of each cantilevered element is finished with stainless steel panels that help to reflect daylight into center of the building's mass.

In addition, the building's 45-centimeter (18-inch) floor plate also embodies many of the building's HVAC systems, which are kept concealed from view where possible.

Moss grows on top of the cantilevered portions of each floor plate. Photo: © Sigmax

The building was completed in January 2012.

Project Credits

Project architect: Paul de Ruiter Architects, Amsterdam
Project team: Paul de Ruiter Menno Kooistra, Haik Hanemaaijer, Willem Jan Landman, Niels Groeneveld
Interior architect: Ex Interiors, Nieuwegein
Project architect: Odette Ex i.c.w. Jessica van Boxtel
Landscape architect: OKRA landschapsarchitecten, Utrecht
Advisor construction: Lucassen Bouwconstructies, Hengelo
Advisor installations: Deerns raadgevende ingenieurs bv, Rijswijk
Construction management: Kloos2, Ambt Delden
Photography: Pieter Kers, Daria Scagliola, Toon Grobet