INTERVIEW
Creating an outdoor experience at work Bart Hoes Landscape architect of AFAS
What did AFAS require for the gardens? As they named the campus AFAS Experience Center, they also wanted to extend the experience philosophy into the gardens. The gardens are very visible from the inside and are a real eye-pleaser, but when you head outside you can experience them to the fullest and interact with them. But otherwise, AFAS gave me a lot of liberty, which is very nice to work with at such a scale.
The campus focuses on 4 pillars: meet, work, relax, and connect. How did you integrate these values? Steef van der Veldt, the architect for the building, already incorporated these values into the building itself and its interiors, and I extended them outdoors. Cooperating with him allowed us to blur the lines between the indoors and outdoors. In the gardens, I wanted to create different atmospheres so that each garden has its own identity. You can, for example, sit quietly among the grasses and seasonal plants in one garden or choose to sit on the square which gives a different vibe. There’s also a sort of outdoor amphitheater in the hill and a bit further on, the sporting island where you are surrounded by water.
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