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living in Manchester, Ter Horst lends a rich cross-cultural background to the Manchester team, including his own experience as a student at The University of Manchester, where he graduated with distinction in 2003. For Veenstra, what makes Mecanoo stand out from the crowd is its design philosophy, telling mondo*arc: “Some architectural practices have a very distinct separation between the various design disciplines, but we believe it’s a necessity to cross borders. Depending on the needs of a project, one or two partners lead a multidisciplinary team, ensuring cohesion in the work. There are no strict boundaries between architecture and design or way-finding or software engineering and so we always try to bring all the elements together and stitch them in – creating one holistic design.” As part of this holistic approach, Mecanoo
appreciates the relationship between architecture and lighting, with both daylight and artificial lighting being very important factors in the company’s philosophy and design methodology, as Veenstra and Ter Horst explain. “The architectural design stage is very much dependent on lighting,” says Veenstra, “changes in light, changes the space.” Using HOME as a reference, Veenstra continues: “if you look at the restaurant space (at HOME) which - together with Concrete architectural practice - we developed a lighting concept for, the luminaires are 3m above floor level, meaning the light almost becomes a second ceiling in the space. The use of artificial light really helps to create space and focus when needed. Artificial lighting is of great importance in our designs and ideally should
Mecanoo is headquartered in Delft in a building that dates back to 1536. In 1750 the interior and exterior were completely re-designed by the Italian architect Bollina. A 40-metre long marble corridor divides the building from the front to the back door. The central staircase, ceilings and doors are decorated with stucco and carved in the style of Louis XIV. From the late 19th Century until the 1960’s, the building was used as a hospital. In 1983, a part of the Oude Delft 203 was rented to different business start-ups and Mecanoo settled in a back room. From 1995 onwards, Mecanoo has taken up the entire building. As of 2015, the Mecanoo Campus also includes a pavilion located in the garden behind the main building.