WZI Eindhoven

Jo Coenen’s master plan for the Smalle Haven area in Eindhoven included the Municipal Office of Employment, Health Care & Income (WZI). The building exterior matches the diversity of the plan and connects its various components both visually and structurally. The heart of the building is a ‘city room’: a partly roofed outdoor space that serves as the entrance vestibule. An arcade connects all of the adjacent buildings. The building exterior, with its vertical bond brick façade, is simple and robust. The entrance, city garden and city room have transparent façades. Vertical windows – floor to ceiling in the cockpits to the back – emphasize the verticality and give the façades rhythm. The windows are pushed back and fit with stainless steel frames that add light and transparency to the façades. Though the building does not look particularly uniform from the outside, it does on the inside. The interior includes an open plan office after a concept that, focusing on transparency and flexibility, was new at the time. The interior is designed around atria, which improve orientation and connect floors and departments.