Inside The New JWT Amsterdam Office

  • Client JWT,
  • Location Amsterdam, Netherlands,
  • Industry Advertising / Marketing,
  • Global advertising giant JWT recently moved into an amazing new Amsterdam office. Designed by Alrik Koudenburg and RJW Elsinga, the new office is located inside an old grandios department store building and provides an eclectic and fun environment for the creative firm to call home.

    “JWT Amsterdam aims to ‘Seriously Surprise’, and it does, from the moment you enter. Exciting things lie in wait around every corner. Whether it’s the upside-down castle at reception, the greenhouse meeting space with huge plants, the architectural tree sculptures, or the drawings from artists such as the Dutch collective Kamp Horst or the Norwegian Anders Rockum. It just doesn’t stop. As a visitor to the space you want to go and explore. Discovering funky Skype units, space dividers in the shape of Amsterdam Canal houses or the profile of Holland’s greatest writer, made out of his Wiki-page text. The interior perfectly reflects the agency’s motto.

    On being commissioned, design director Alrik Koudenburg teamed up with design-artist RJW Elsinga. Together the duo worked on creating a stunning space of nearly 2000sq meters, almost all custom-designed. The interior WOW effect, is created with graphics, including logos per department, a variety of unique furniture and specials such as a 2.6m high cardboard bunny to house the office’s many awards. Completing it are classics like the Eames, Friso Kramer, lights by Louis Poulsen, Tom Dixon – and also the fabulous Moroso ‘Soft Wood sofa’ and Driade ‘Nemo’ face chairs.

    JWT Amsterdam, lead by Ralph Wisbrun and creatively by Bas Korsten completely reorganized the agency before their big move. Believing that our complex world calls for a new way of working, they tore down the traditional agency structure and built a new one. With 3 leaner, meaner and more agile departments:ThinkDo and Make.

    For ‘Think’ Koudenburg & Elsinga created an inspirational garden, where one can wonder around and let thoughts flow freely. The space includes a library and a podium overlooking the Leidse Square. ‘Think’ is the place where ideas are invented and plans made, based on strategy, technology and connectivity. — For ‘Do’ a city setup was created, which functions like a busy beehive where JWT staff organize the idea, getting it done with a team of concept producers, online- / activation- / and print producers. — ‘Make’ feels like a happy factory, being inside a creative toolbox, where digital craftsmen and women bring the ideas to life. It consists of a studio for (online) design, visualizing, film making, etcetera. The huge CMYK colored robot cabinets (2.80m high) keep everything nice and tidy.”

    Executive Creative Director: Bas Korsten
    Concept/Design: Alrik Koudenburg & RJW Elsinga
    Production: Fiction Factory (interior) BrandWacht en Meijer (additional items)
    Producer: Ingeborg Greve
    Illustrations: Kamp Horst, Sieger Duinkerken, Anders Rockum, Leyp, Jeroen de Boorder (graphic design)
    Photography: Kasia Gatkowska

    See more JWT offices here