Centraal Beheer office building, Structuralist office building in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.
Centraal Beheer is an office building made up of sixty interlocking cube-shaped modules arranged around two internal streets that serve as the main pathways. These central corridors connect all the work areas and form the social spine of the entire structure.
Herman Hertzberger designed the building between 1968 and 1972 as the headquarters for Centraal Beheer insurance company. It represented an experimental approach to office design that prioritized worker flexibility and interaction over traditional corporate layouts.
The name reflects the cooperative nature of the insurance company, and this philosophy shapes how the building encourages people to interact and work together. Common areas and open passages create natural meeting points where employees encounter one another during their daily routines.
The building is easy to navigate thanks to its internal streets, though the layout of interconnected cubes may feel confusing at first glance. Visitors should allow extra time to explore different sections, as the structure reveals more when you move through it slowly and observe how spaces connect.
The building uses glass bricks and metal grilles strategically to guide natural light while creating visual connections between different levels. These details often go unnoticed at first, yet they fundamentally shape how light and sight lines flow throughout the entire space.
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