© Peter Cuypers

C.Peter Cuypers

架构师提供的文本描述。我们太空。这是我们在大楼中心的公共区域的名字。这是一个把人们聚集在一起的地方。在混凝土地板上，我们雕刻了一个14米高的空隙，里面有一个巨大的楼梯，当它向上延伸的时候，它会把对角线穿过空隙，把不同的楼层连在一起。现在人们在移动，在木台阶上来回走动。他们中的一些人在闲聊，在宽阔的踏板上有空间坐一会儿。楼下咖啡厅里传来谈话声和咖啡的香气，现在大厅里挤满了人。大部分办公空间已经出租，使这座大楼重新焕发生机。

Text description provided by the architects. We space. That’s our name for this communal area at the heart of the building. It’s a place that brings people together. Out of the concrete floors we carved a 14-metre-tall void that houses a giant staircase that cuts diagonal lines through the void as it makes its way upwards, linking the different floors to one another. Now people are on the move, making their way back and forth on the timber steps. Some of them linger for a chat, and there’s space on the broad treads to sit for a moment. The sound of chatter and the aroma of coffee from the café below now fill the hall. Most of the office space has already been leased, bringing the building back to life once again.

 © Peter Cuypers

C.Peter Cuypers

de burgemeester是在2010年威尼斯建筑双年展荷兰展馆展出的蓝色泡沫模型“云”的一部分。在一个题为“空置的民族解放力量”的展览中，展馆内有一个巨大的模型，描绘了荷兰所有空置的建筑物。这次展览被证明是对抗性的，因为它抓住了空旷空间的巨大规模，一目了然，并得出了这样的结论：增长时代已经结束，几乎不需要再建造任何东西了。

De Burgemeester was part of the ‘cloud’ of blue foam models on show in the Dutch pavilion at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale. In an exhibition entitled Vacant NL, the pavilion housed a vast model that depicted all the unoccupied buildings in the Netherlands. The exhibition proved confrontational for the way it captured the sheer scale of empty space and rendered it visible at a glance, and for the conclusion expressed: the era of growth is finished, and scarcely anything more needs to be built.

 © Peter Cuypers

C.Peter Cuypers

同时，那片蓝色的海洋也包含着一个承诺。空置的民族解放力量对建筑师提出了创造性的挑战：发现这些建筑物的潜力；使它们适应我们经济停滞和人口下降的时代；将它们临时或以其他方式改造成灵活和可持续的结构；确保对这些建筑物有新的欣赏。

At the same time, that sea of blue also contained a promise. Vacant NL posed a creative challenge to architects: discover the potential of these buildings; adapt them for our era of economic stagnation and population decline; transform them, temporary or otherwise, into flexible and sustainable structures; to ensure a new appreciation of these buildings.

 © Peter Cuypers

C.Peter Cuypers

更重要的是，危机提供了机会。削减成本措施的压力为其他价值创造了空间。更多并不一定意味着更好，越来越多的人正在意识到这一点。在互联网的推动下，一种繁荣的共享文化应运而生。多亏了绿轮公司、Peerby公司和Airbnb公司，我们相互借了车，租了工具，甚至租了房子。越来越多的城市的人们正在建立居民协会，以使他们的社区更可持续。而空置用地则被视为城市农业等新的空间开发项目的“试验场”。“每个人都为自己”不再起作用的感觉，以及我们真的可以通过联合力量取得一些成就的感觉，正在得到广泛的支持。而且，同样重要的是：我们开始意识到在一起更有趣。

What’s more, the crisis offers opportunities. The pressure of cost-cutting measures creates scope for other values. More does not necessarily mean better, and that’s something increasing numbers of people are coming to realize. Born out of the idea of cutbacks and facilitated by the internet, a flourishing culture of sharing has emerged. Thanks to Greenwheels, Peerby and Airbnb we borrow and rent cars, tools and even homes from one another. People in more and more cities are setting up resident associations to make their neighbourhoods more sustainable. And vacant sites are taken as ‘test sites’ for new spatial developments such as urban farming. The sense that ‘everybody for himself’ no longer works, and the feeling that we can really achieve something by joining forces, is gaining widespread support. And, just as important: we’ve come to realize that it’s all much more fun together.

对de burgemeester的翻新就是对这些发展的回应。伊米尔住房协会授予这座建筑作为办公大楼的新生活，并在2012年要求我们起草一份提案。但持续的危机挫败了这一野心；事实证明，一个单一的客户占据整个大楼是不可行的。这就是为什么它被决定与一个名叫林果托的投资者合作，把这栋建筑变成一个多租户建筑群。

The renovation of De Burgemeester is a response to these developments. Ymere housing association granted the building a new life as an office complex and in 2012 asked us to draw up a proposal. But the persistent crisis thwarted that ambition; it turned out to be unfeasible for a single client to occupy the entire building. That’s the reason it was decided to team up with an investor called Lingotto and turn the building into a multi-tenant complex.

 © Peter Cuypers

C.Peter Cuypers

由于有各种额外便利设施的办公空间已不再是一个现实的选择，预算较低，我们完全改变了原来的提议。工作空间没有任何装饰，以便我们可以引导更多的资源到一个壮观的，共享的设施，促进整个建筑。雕塑般的楼梯，一个人们可以相会的社交空间，一个把人们从字面上和形象上连接在一起的地方。楼梯作为沟通的工具，给建筑提供了一个集体的身份。作为一个垂直大厅，提供所有楼层的景观，它告诉居住者，他们是一个更大的世界的一部分。而这种感觉正是整栋建筑的主要质量。

Since office space with all sorts of extra amenities was no longer a realistic option with a lower budget, we completely changed our original proposal. Workspaces are fitted out without any frills so that we could channel more resources into one spectacular, shared amenity that boosts the whole building. The sculptural staircase, a social space where people can meet, a place that connects people to one another both literally and figuratively. The staircase as a tool for communication, lends the building a collective identity. As a vertical lobby that offers views of all floors, it tells occupants that they are part of a larger world. And precisely that feeling is the major quality of the renovated building.

 © Peter Cuypers

C.Peter Cuypers

最重要的是，我们最大限度地利用了de burgemeester已经具备的品质：周围地区的景色和充足的日光。通过增加玻璃隔墙和巨大的中庭实现的公开性和透明度，确保了从几乎所有的内部到外面的看法。吊顶已被拆除，以揭示真实的混凝土地板与T梁。现在，这种粗糙的无柱承载结构决定了大气。

On top of that, we maximized those qualities that De Burgemeester already possessed: views of the surrounding neighbourhood and generous amounts of daylight. The openness and transparency achieved through the addition of glass partition walls and the voluminous atrium ensures views to the outside from almost everywhere within. Suspended ceilings have been removed to reveal the authentic concrete floor with T-beams. Now this rough, column-free load-bearing structure determines the atmosphere.

 © Peter Cuypers

C.Peter Cuypers

木质的楼梯和栏杆为室内增添了温暖。楼梯是用钢建造的，用简单的胶合板包裹，表面有透明的清漆。定制的栏杆是使用一种负担得起的工业技术从同一张纸上碾磨而成的，这种技术几乎是手工制作的外观。

The timber-clad stairs and banisters add warmth to the interior. The staircase is constructed of steel and wrapped with simple sheets of plywood with a transparent varnish finish. Custom-made railings are milled from the same sheets using an affordable industrial technique that lends the result an almost handcrafted appearance.