Kinzo

25,000 m² distribution center with 4,000 m² officespace

 

The complex consists of an 11-meter-high distribution hall, which transitions at the front into a seven-meter-high warehouse. These functional blocks are clad in corrugated steel panels. Positioned atop the lower warehouse volume is a two-story office block, designed as an autonomous object resting on eight slender columns. The slenderness of these columns gives the impression that the office block is floating. Adjacent to it, a gently sloped ramp leads to a rooftop parking deck above the low warehouse. The diagonal line of the ramp adds a sense of dynamism to the otherwise rigid rectangular composition. The result is a clear, elemental geometry that can be grasped in a single glance from a passing car.

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With the design for Kinzo Tools’ new headquarters in Ede, the architectural firm aims to demonstrate that an industrial building doesn’t need to be entirely horizontally organized. In doing so, the design challenges the architectural stigma often associated with business buildings and moves away from the clichéd archetype of the “box on a parking lot.”