THERE ARE CEILING PANELS DESIGNED TO LOOK LIKE STROOPWAFELS.
Google‘s offices, though always Google-y, tend to take inspiration from their location. The original campus in Mountain View is sprawling and sunny, like an alternate-universe Stanford. The New York offices, on the far West Side, are industrial and loft-like. (More examples: London, Pittsburgh, Dublin.) And the new Amsterdam offices have stroopwafel ceiling panels.
Designed by D/DOCK, a local studio, the Amsterdam offices feature a mix of Google’s in-house style and Dutch design cues. There’s brick and graffiti, which are a hat-tip to the company’s origins in a garage (though the actual Google garage is more suburban and less cool). There are the traditional trappings of startup offices worldwide, by which we mean, yeah, there’s a foosball table.
But the design is also identifiably Dutch. There’s a quirkiness to Dutch design, a playfulness that transforms the basics (which can be quiteminimal) into something fun. Hence the stroopwafels, the reception desk that looks like a cargo area for a cruiser bicycle, and the 1960s caravans that serve as meeting rooms (complete with folding chairs and nonfunctional wood grills). Looks fun!
via www.fastcodesign.com
