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Cepezed

Places Architects Call Home: A firm uses custom prefab techniques to remodel a landmarked complex of three buildings.

By Suzanne Stephens

As it expanded, the architectural firm Cepezed decided to relocate to a 40,370-square-foot landmark complex of three neo'Dutch Renaissance brick structures in Delft.

*Photo © Jannes Linders*

Architects & Firms

Cepezed

Delft, the Netherlands

People/Products

The Dutch firm Cepezed Architects, founded in 1973, is known for its quick-assembly, on-site construction with factory-made elements. From 1999 until just recently, it occupied a glass and steel building it had designed that demonstrated the firm's commitment to a modernist method of fabrication. But as principal Ronald Schleurholts notes, 'We were expanding rapidly, and our office was dispersed over four different areas in that structure.' Schleurholts and his partner, Jan Pesman, discovered a landmarked complex of three buildings in Ezelsveldlaan, in the south part of the city, where they could use their 'custom prefab' techniques to remodel the space for 50 employees. They chose to occupy the largest main hall and leave the middle-sized and smallest for two other creative offices.

The neo-Dutch Renaissance complex had been designed between 1905 and 1911 by a government architect, Jan Vrijman, as part of the Delft University of Technology. The 32,000-square-foot ensemble of gabled brick halls and low-rise annexes originally contained workshops for the Department of Mechanical and Marine Engineering. After the university moved, the workshops were converted to the Museum of Technology. Then that institution also relocated, and the city looked for a buyer for the property. Cepezed formed a development company, Made in Delft, to renovate the ensemble as a 'creative cluster,' which now leases the space to each of the three tenants.

The architects were drawn to the industrial quality of the lightweight, airy Polonceau trusses in the main hall, where two segmented triangles are held together by tension rods. The 52-foot height of the gabled roof accommodates mezzanines for additional work areas while augmenting the sense of spaciousness. In rebuilding the low-rise annex next door, the architects used a steel frame with slender, minimal profiles and slightly recessed double-insulated glazing. 'We try to build a kit of parts,' says Schleurholts, 'but it is customized, so you don't see it as a typical prefab.' The elegant result fits the firm's philosophy, without losing a sense of history.

People

Owner: Made in Delft, Delft

Architect:
cepezed architects
Ezelsveldlaan 61
PO BOX 3068
2601 DB Delft
The Netherlands
tel +31 15 215 00 00

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:
Architect of record: Jan Pesman, Ronald Schleurholts, Jeen Pot

Interior designer: cepezed architects

Engineer(s):
Stability:
SmitWesterman, Gouda (NL)
IMd, Rotterdam (NL)

Installation techniques:
Ingenieursburo Linssen, Amsterdam (NL)

Construction physics and acoustics:
DGMR, The Hague (NL)

Consultant(s):
Acoustical: DGMR, The Hague (NL)

General contractor:
Construction coordination by cepezed architects, Delft (NL)

Contractors:
general works: Bouwlinq Haaglanden, The Hague (NL)
steel constructions: Klein Poelhuis konstruktie, Winterswijk (NL)
glass constructions: BRS building systems, Moerkapelle (NL)
mechanical installations: Schulte & Lestraden, Lisse (NL)
electrical installations: Schoonderbeek Installatie, Hillegom (NL)
interior: Smeulders Interior Group, Neunen (NL)

Photographer(s):
Jannes Linders
cepezed | Léon van Woerkom

CAD system, project management, or other software used:
Auto Cad, Microsoft Projects

Size:

40,365 square feet

Construction cost:

withheld

Completion date:

July 2014

Products

Glazing
Glass and skylights: structural glazing (BGT Bischoff Glastechnik AG, bretten (DE))

Doors
Entrances: pivot door (FritsJurgens BV, Slochteren (NL))
Metal doors: metal doors with glazing (Jansen building systems, ODS geveltechniek (NL))

Hardware
Pulls: all hardware (D-line hardware, Albertslund (DK))

Interior finishes
Acoustical ceilings: softcell ceiling panels (Kvadrat, Copenhagen (DK))
Solid surfacing: table tops (Getacore Westag, Lopik (NL))
Flooring: polyurethane (Bolidt, Hendrik Ido Ambacht (NL))

Furnishings
Chairs: lunch chairs (Arper, Monastier di Treviso (IT))
Tables: lunch tables (MDF Italia, Milano (IT))
Other furniture (use additional sheet if necessary): custom made workbench (designed by cepezed, Keijsers Lundiform, Venray (NL))

Lighting
General lightning (ERCO, Lüdenscheid (DE))

KEYWORDS: Netherlands

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Suzanne Stephens, a former deputy editor of Architectural Record, has been a writer, editor, and critic in the field of architecture for several decades. She has a Ph.D. in architectural history from Cornell University, and teaches a seminar in the history of architectural criticism in the architecture program of Barnard and Columbia colleges.