Caruso St John Architects

2007–2011
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
Client: Trudo
Project Status: Competition, First Prize

The architects were awarded this commission following an invited competition in which they were asked to make proposals for the conversion of the Veemgebouw, a very large warehouse building at the former Philips industrial complex in Eindhoven. The listed building was constructed in 1943, and is the most monumental of a series of industrial buildings on the Strijp S site at the heart of the complex, whose redevelopment is being masterplanned by Jo Coenen and West 8. The new brief for the building called for spaces to accommodate a specialist food hall, a stijlfabriek (design furniture store) and a design hotel.

The proposals make selective internal demolitions within the deep floors to open up the interior, forming a series of monumental spaces of a metropolitan scale at key levels of the building. In the centre of the Veemgebouw will be a five storey high hall for the Stijlfabriek. The hotel is on the upper floors, with new construction at roof level for hotel facilities and a public restaurant, where open facades will announce the new occupation of the building to the city.