Roma (RM), Italia

Dutch Embassy in Rome

Drastic renovation and refurbishment of The Dutch embassy in Rome. Formerly, the embassy was residing in a richly decorated urban villa, built in 1929 in Renaissance style, and a vaguely resembling annex from some decades later of which the details were far less special. Together, the buildings measure some 1.300 m2. Throughout the years they had seen some renovations yet, but were more or less run down now. There were problems with maintenance and the economic lifespan of the technical installations had expired. Moreover, since they originally functioned as a private residence, they were inefficiently arranged. There were all sorts of winding narrow passageways, little stairways and odd room measures in odd places in the building et cetera, which interfered with practicability and staff communication. First an alternative accommodation elsewhere in Rome was sought after, but the cost of acquiring and altering other premises did not relate to the quality improvement required. Eventually it was decided to completely renovate and modernize the existing embassy. The year 2005 was used to formulate the aims and programme, make the design, arrange for the tendering and select a contractor. The actual construction took place over 2006 and early 2007. During the activity, the embassy was temporarily relocated.

Obviously the renovation had to bring solutions for the problems mentioned above. Furthermore, there were high architectural and artistic ambitions, also because Italy is the pre-eminent country of culture and design. The project was taken as an opportunity to show what the Netherlands are capable of in design. Amongst the architectural goals were functionality, transparency and a modern and professional appearance. The Dutch cepezed architects aimed for a strong contrast between the older and the newer part. Because the main building had a lot of interesting original details, cepezed wanted the splendour hereof to be restored and brought to the fore as much as possible. Therefore, the outside of the urban villa has completely been renovated. Around the much more ordinary annex, a secondary façade has been installed of weathering steel, a cupriferous type of steel (Cor-Ten) which in time gets a preserving, rusty patina that beautifully fits the trunk colour of the umbrella pines in the neighbourhood. The steel carries on at the window openings, but is perforated and suited with shutters here because of view and daylight illumination. Its new skin makes the extension look like an abstract, neutral presence almost without details and constitutes a serene backdrop for the Renaissance building, which now gets a good showing.

On the inside, the premises had no special details. Consequently, internally the buildings have been stripped down to their concrete skeleton and have been provided with a new, drastically revised arrangement aimed at lightness, transparency and good communication possibilities. In doing so, the two parts of the building have been forged into a unity, as a result of which the difference is hardly noticeable in the interior. In furtherance of recognizable logistics, every storey has gotten a same sort of floor plan. On all floors, the offices, working spots and meeting rooms have been grouped around a central traffic and sojourn space enabling encounters with coworkers.

The partitions between the offices and the central spaces are executed in translucent glass, which provides a comfortable light atmosphere. The stairs are also largely of translucent glass, while the elevator is completely transparent. The stairs and elevator are transparently roofed over, ensuring that daylight penetrates deep into the building. The interior of the new embassy is decorated with a lot of Dutch modern art. Artists represented in the collection are – amongst others – Jan Cremer, Jan Dibbets, Louis Copier, Carel Willink, Aline Thomassen, Fons Brasser, Charlotte Dumas and Hannes Wallrafen. On the outside, the building is ‘guarded’ by the artwork Cave canem (beware of the dog), consisting of two ceramic dogs and made by Irene Fortuyn and Robert O’Brien in 1993.

Project data interior:

Entrance hall: The benches and seats were designed by Olav van den Brekel of the Foreign Housing Department of the Dutch Ministry of Public Affairs. The fabric of the benches is a design of Fanny Aronsen produced by Kvadrat. The aluminium stools are of the Pepe Cortès-designed Jamaica type produced by Knoll.

Central hall second floor: The two lounge chairs and three hockers (footstools) are of the Particia Urguiola-designed Fjord type produced by Moroso.

Central hall floor: The stools here are the same as in the entrance hall: the Jamaica-type. The tables are a design of cepezed in cooperation with Olav van den Brekel and have been produced by Kembo.

Also in cooperation with Olav van den Brekel, cepezed designed the office desks for the working stations and a pantry furnishing for every office floor. These were also produced by Kembo. On the top floor, high Jamaica-type stools combine with high tables designed by cepezed and produced by Kembo. Outside on the terrace are the ‘Gargantua’-garden tables designed by Dirk Wijnants and produced by Extremis. The furniture in the office of the ambassador and his deputy are of Bruno Ninaber design. The guest chairs in all the offices are of the Maarten van Severen-designed 03-type produced by Vitra.

Interior walls: The interior walls have been produced by Unispace, are composed of the flush-glazing system and have seams of only 3 mm wide, even around the doors. The walls have a height of no less than 4500 mm and light switches are integrated. On request of cepezed they have been produced with a translucent layer of glass on the hall side and a transparent layer of glass on the side of the offices. This way, a certain depth can be experienced in the walls from within the offices, while at the same time they bring a maximum of daylight daylight into the central halls.