Booking.com headquarters
UN Studio / lead interior architect: HofmanDujardin / design floor pattern: Linehouse
The new head office was aptly located next to Amsterdam Central Station at the tip of Oosterdokseiland, which was historically a departure point for sailing ships to distant destinations. From the new Booking.com campus, that connection to the rest of the world is now established in a modern way. The central location was a deliberate choice to provide easy access in a lively and inspiring environment for their predominantly young and international employees. The new campus fosters an inclusive atmosphere where employees and visitors can meet, inspire each other, work, and recreation.
Casco office building
Commissioned by developer BPD, UNStudio designed a casco office building with 41 luxury apartments above an underground public parking garage and bicycle storage facility. Located on the Binnen IJ, the campus boasts striking glass façades. The ground floor, known as the plinth, houses an (external) restaurant and the main entrance to the campus. Though relatively small, the entrance features an immense wooden staircase leading to the recruitment, research, and learning centres on the first floor, seamlessly extending to the central atrium on the second floor. This central atrium serves as the building's vibrant core. The office building contains two atriums, one small and one large. All office spaces and individual interiors are arranged around the large atrium, reflecting an international touch that embodies Booking.com's core activities. The overall design concept of the building mirrors Amsterdam, the home of their travel company.
Photography Hufton+Crow
Movie Ale Petra
Sociale hub
Architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio aimed to create a city campus that caters to the needs and behaviour of Booking.com employees from the moment they arrive until the end of their working day, encompassing all activities in between. The various floors provide space for offices, meeting rooms, break-out rooms, pantries, sitting and individual workplaces, sports and relaxation areas, prayer rooms, and no fewer than three restaurants. Designed as a social hub, the building stimulates interactions while also promoting a socially, physically, and mentally healthy work environment for Booking.com employees. The architecture encourages movement by featuring attractive environments and physical connections such as stairs, bridges, balconies, and galleries on all levels, including the roof. This design facilitates both horizontal movement across floors and vertical movement throughout the interior and exterior of the building.
Booking Home
HofmanDujardin was appointed chief interior architect by Booking.com after their pitch, tasked with creating a master plan for the interior that reflected the company's vision and needs. The concept was called Booking Home. Michiel Hofman of HofmanDujardin: "After a holiday, all mental and physical souvenirs come together at home as a collage. With 95% of the workforce coming from outside the Netherlands, we wanted to create a sense of home for this international group representing over a hundred nationalities. The Home concept provided an opportunity to evoke this feeling through diverse and warm interiors throughout the building. Philosophically, every place in the world is someone's home, and Booking Home brought this idea to life at every scale. This allowed us to introduce a wide variety of spaces within the building, aligning with Booking.com's desire for diversity, inclusiveness, and community. The key question was: how do you connect people?"
‘Our goal was to create a collage interior that emphasised diversity and inclusiveness, In the end, it worked out very well!’
architect HofmanDujardin
Intuitive human values as a basis
HofmanDujardin operates under the philosophy 'Shaping Intuition'. It is based on the four intuitive human values; spaciousness, groundedness, expression and connection. "The first value, spaciousness, is about light, air, and space. Essentially, can you breathe? Groundedness is about comfort and privacy, ensuring people feel at ease in their surroundings. Expression involves elements that are colorful or attention-grabbing, which are prevalent throughout the building. Finally, connection encompasses the physical and visual links between people, spaces, and the interior and exterior. Humans need a balance of these values to feel intuitively at ease. In a large building like this, it is crucial to effectively translate these values so that people feel comfortable and connected. Based on this philosophy, we won the tender. We recognised that the building already had significant spaciousness and connection. Our task was to enhance groundedness and expression. We introduced color, diversity, and varied experiences to ensure people felt comfortable and engaged. "Our goal was to create a collage interior that emphasised diversity and inclusiveness, sometimes in harmony and sometimes in contrast with the unique architecture. In the end, it worked out very well!"
Ten international design studios
HofmanDujardin began by analysing the building: identifying walking routes, working areas, entrances, and locations of restaurants, among other key aspects. For each area, they created detailed drawings and developed specific atmospheres. "For example, the restaurant on the second floor is designed like a festival site, a vibrant and colorful place where everyone can come together, as you would expect at a festival," the architect explained. Several design firms were invited to pitch their ideas. Ultimately, HofmanDujardin collaborated with nine other international design studios to design various spaces and layers within the building while designing several rooms themselves. For this unique collaborative approach, HofmanDujardin developed a series of principles and mood boards for different thematic areas as starting points. In collaboration with the area designers, they translated these principles into a rich diversity of spaces and places, allowing each studio to put its individual design stamp on the areas. The flexible and generous layout of the work floors enabled the creation of various working and meeting rooms. Hofman: "There are so many places where people can meet, discuss, work in concentration, and so on. It's actually a city in itself, with both busy and quiet areas."
- Floor area atrium: 7,739 sqft;
- Colored floor tiles atrium (Core Collection Solids and Core Collection Terra / 36x36 inch) 203 cool black, 225 light cool grey, 226 mid cool grey and 227 dark cool grey;
- Atrium floor: 846 tile parts, excluding whole tiles;
- Atrium floor: 47 pallets, excluding whole tiles;
- 96 ventilation holes with diameter of 8.4 inch installed in the work;
- Area wall tiles kitchen: 98,38 sqft (Global Collection 6x12 inch);
- 110 toilet blocks: 17,244 sqft (4x4 inch Kho Liang series; mix of 16900 and 16902);
- back walls of work cabinets: 10,764 sqft (6x6 inch tiles Global Collection 16840);
Designed to connect
The building features 28 break-out rooms, each with a 'micro-holiday' theme. These rooms are equipped with a pantry, high and low tables, seating areas, and meeting spaces but are uniquely themed around different travel destinations. Three design firms each crafted several of these spaces. "Employees can stroll through New York City and Rio de Janeiro, relax on the Greek islands, or visit the Amazon. They can use these rooms to meet up with colleagues or work on their own and recharge their creativity and productivity. The rooms are designed in such a way that working and relaxing do not interfere with each other. Photographs and souvenirs from employees around the world are displayed as collages, fostering greater engagement with the building."
Atrium as main square
Central to the design is the bustling atrium on the second floor, which serves as the focal point connecting all office floors. It was integral to the master plan to create something spectacular here, a unique feature visible from every floor. Design studio Linehouse Design crafted a graphic city pattern for the floor using four shades of Mosa Specials tiles. Hofman: "With the concept of the building as a city, the atrium functions as its main square. Three seating areas are nestled around tall trees, seamlessly integrating with the interior design and the tile pattern on the floor. What's remarkable is that it's both highly specific, tailored uniquely for this location, and yet also universal, almost natural. This duality is expertly captured in the special floor design. It invites you to linger, to explore. The tile floor plays a pivotal role in creating this atmosphere. It's not just visually striking but also meticulously executed."
Alongside being a true feat of design, management, and material use, the Noord/Zuidlijn is home to breathtaking art. Most stations are sure to make a huge impression, especially Station Noord, with Harmen Liemburg’s piece titled Flyways.
Read the case study: The Noord / Zuidlijn in Amsterdam: a public museum
A cohesive interplay of lines
Bas Heijckmann, senior project leader at CBRE, approached Mosa to explore how Linehouse Design's intricate line pattern could be translated into ceramic tiles. "After several meetings, our decision was solidified as soon as we saw Mosa's execution of Harmen Liemburg's 'Flyways' floor piece at Station Noord of the Noord/Zuidlijn in Amsterdam. Our sustainability expert approved the specifications of the Core Collection Solids and Core Collection Terra. Together with HofmanDujardin and Linehouse Design, we selected four colors and began engineering. The line arrangement had to align precisely with the façade, doors, grand staircases and escalators."
The starting point for the tiler was on the other side of the atrium; a half-millimetre deviation per tile would accumulate to several centimetres over the distance, which was unacceptable. "In collaboration with Linehouse Design, developer BPD, contractor Züblin, UNstudio, and HofmanDujardin, adjustments were made at critical points. All parties pushed each other to achieve the best possible outcome, and we succeeded admirably. Mosa and Kroon Projects Meerkerk, specialists in natural stone and ceramic tiles, demonstrated exceptional craftsmanship. Ultimately, the deviation across the entire atrium was negligible at two millimetres and Mosa did not need to recut any tiles."
Atrium tile floor and tile design
‘This tile floor is the peak of complexity; For Mosa and us it was like puzzling for experts.’
Sustainability is a vital aspect of Royal Mosa's mission and principles. Cradle to Cradle is an innovative, positive and integral approach to sustainability, which is not based on reduction but on unlimited reuse of raw materials: 'Waste = Food'. This suits Mosa very well, as it is convinced that in the future, there will only be room for sustainable products that are produced responsibly and can be used without health risks. This is a responsibility that Mosa shares with its customers. Mosa is the world's first ceramic tile company to gain full Cradle to Cradle certification for nearly its entire tile collection.
Cooperation with Kroon Projects
Mosa sought advice from Kroon on the feasibility of Linehouse's complex floor design. Kroon and Mosa had already collaborated successfully on projects at Amsterdam Central Station and the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Originally a natural stone company, Kroon brings extensive customisation experience to complex ceramic tile assignments. After Kroon confirmed the design's feasibility and a tendering process, Mosa and Kroon began their work. Jaco Tanger, CEO at Kroon: "We created a grid of 36 x 36 inch for the entire floor area and mapped Linehouse Design's pattern onto it. Each grid block, representing one tile, was individually drawn, considering the joint widths so that Mosa could use an aquajet to cut out the patterns accurately. Some tiles contain four different colors and shapes. We then made detailed drawings of each part of a tile to prevent cutting errors." UNStudio preferred that both the left and the right side of the entrance façade were aligned. "To compensate for building tolerance, all outer edge tiles were delivered oversized in length, requiring only one cut on-site."
The atrium floor is built on two-metre-high steel legs to accommodate the computer infrastructure and air handling ducts. Kroon drilled the holes in the floor to extract polluted air and the supply of fresh air on-site; doing so beforehand would have been too complex and fragile.
Packaging and logistics
In addition, packaging and logistics received a lot of attention; it was crucial to pack the tiles properly to avoid breakage during transport. Test runs were conducted to determine the ideal packaging shape and stack height. The order of packaging was also important; the tile parts were laid out in their installation pattern on sheets of cardboard. Then, the tiles were packed with spacers in between and stacked in the order they would be installed. Whole tiles were placed between them to distribute the pressure. The workers kept these whole tiles separate on-site to use them later elsewhere in the floor. Tanger: "In row one, we went from right to left and in row two, we went from left to right. We laid the whole floor like a snake." The required pallets with tiles were called up early to prevent disruptions in the installation process, considering the limited storage capacity on the construction site and potential damage during storage. Director Jacco Fierloos of Kroon summed it up nicely: "This is the peak of complexity. Both cutting, packing and installing the tiles was like puzzling for experts. We can reassure you that Mosa played an above-average role in this!"
The diversity and unique experiences within the building stemmed from this master plan, which led HofmanDujardin to appoint various interior layer designers and area designers. The area designers, including international design agencies CBRE Design Collective, HofmanDujardin, i29 interior architects, Linehouse Design, Studio Modijefsky and UNStudio, were responsible for designing the restaurants and various workspaces. The layer designers consisting of Mijksenaar, MOSS, Powerplant, Scholten, Baijings and Studio Rublek focused on elements such as signage, greenery, materials, colors of the carpeting, and lighting throughout the building. Together, they crafted an inspiring environment where employees and visitors can meet, inspire, collaborate, and recreate.
The Booking.Com campus is built according to the BREEAM Excellent standard and functions as a gas-free building connected to the district heating network. It integrates a heat recovery system that utilises residual heat from the floors and a monitoring system for optimal energy use. The building features 1,100 climate zones activated by movement, linked to functions such as lighting, escalators and elevators. The campus is equipped with 832 solar panels that provide up to 10% of the required energy, with the remainder supplied through green electricity. Ten key aspects received significant attention: air circulation, water, nutrition, daylight, physical movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, a holistic approach to mental well-being and strategies to contribute to the Amsterdam community. Lastly, many eco-friendly materials have been used throughout the building, including the Mosa Cradle to Cradle Core Collection Solids and Core Collection Terra for the atrium floor.
Project details
| Project: | Booking.com |
| Architect: | UN Studio |
| Interior architect: | HofmanDujardin |
| Design floor pattern: | Linehouse |
| Location: | Amsterdam (The Netherlands) |
| Completion: | 2023 |
| Mosa series: | Core Collection Solids, Core Collection Terra, Global Collection, Classics Kho Liang Ie |
Inspiration
More information
We set high standards for the advice and support. This means that we actively aim for dialogue and that we are interested in what interests you. Do you have any questions about this project or would you like to discuss the options for your project?
Contact Mosa