Westraven Office Complex receives second award

The cepezed-designed Westraven Office Complex in Utrecht, the Netherlands, has been enthusiastically acclaimed at the festive Dutch Construction Gala. The project's architect cepezed's Ronald Schleurholts and the commissioning Government Buildings Agency were awarded the Dutch Construction Award 2009 for the project's excellence in different aspects.

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Building Programme:
The programme covers more than 53,000 sq m and consists of office space, conference facilities, a national meeting centre, a communications centre, and the Future Center for the Department of Public Works.

Concept:
- Vides, atriums, conservatories, and inner gardens furnish the transparent new construction with an unprecedented spatial quality, and are also important for the orientation of the staff and visitors.

- Much attention has been devoted to realizing perfect equilibrium between low energy consumption and an optimum working climate. For this purpose, an ingenious climate concept has been developed which makes use of thermically active floors, among other methods.

- The conservatories also work as climate buffers and the artificial lighting adjusts itself automatically to the colour and intensity of the incidence of daylight.

- A revolutionary feature is the innovative second-skin façade of open-weave, teflon-coated glass fibre that offers all-round protection against the wind and makes it possible to work with open windows, even on the top floors.

The project also received the Daylight Award 2008 for its optimal equilibrium between the use of daylight, artificial lighting and other architectural aspects.