Amsterdam’s Zuidas district has lengthy been an emblem of ambition, recognized for its big glass towers and fast-moving careers. But ask nearly any Amsterdammer, and you will hear the identical factor: it is not the type of place you go for a stroll, or to stumble upon your neighbour, or to get pleasure from something resembling a village ambiance.
With that in thoughts, evidently DNCO had one thing of an not possible activity after they have been introduced in to help the transformation of the previous ABN AMRO headquarters right into a energetic mixture of houses, workspaces and neighbourhood streets.
Their problem was to show a enterprise monolith into someplace folks may truly wish to stay. It turned out that the answer all began with listening.
Partnering with Victory and LMTD, DNCO frolicked on the bottom, conducting on-street intercepts, internet hosting workshops and talking instantly with residents and stakeholders.
A whole lot of individuals contributed views by an internet survey. What surfaced was a frank consensus that Zuidas was “simply enterprise,” a spot “for fits, heels and ties,” and nowhere close to as heat or human as the remainder of Amsterdam.
With that candour got here a chance to shift perceptions. The shopper’s imaginative and prescient was already setting the stage for a brand new type of city expertise, constructed round intimate streets and inexperienced areas.
DNCO’s job was articulating this in a manner the neighborhood may instantly perceive.
What the group created was a easy, barely surprising line – a village for Zuidas – that underpins your entire id.
Having a bit extra readability gave rise to a brand new title, too. Pleasure Nazzari, DNCO’s founder and govt chair, explains: “The title we got here up with is Zudo, a portmanteau of Zuidas and dorp.” She provides that the positioning line “‘A village for Zuidas’ explains the intent our shopper is bringing for this in any other case slightly dry and intense enterprise space.”
In follow, the id performs with duality due to that ‘enterprise district meets neighbourhood life’ positioning. DNCO additionally developed a bilingual narrative throughout Dutch and English, swapping similar-sounding phrases between the 2 languages to create what they name a “destandardised” tone of voice. The concept was to develop one thing playful with out being flippant that speaks on to the realm’s multilingual viewers.
DNCO collaborated with Amsterdam-based foundry Daring Selections to design a bespoke stencil typeface combining serif and sans-serif components. Pleasure describes it as “half serif, half sans, to replicate the adaptive reuse within the masterplan but additionally to present it a little bit of distinctive attraction.” It sits comfortably alongside the event’s architectural ambition whereas nonetheless feeling approachable.
Illustrations by Luis Mendo add one other layer of heat. Relatively than depicting a shiny future, the scenes concentrate on the on a regular basis, like tulips, a bruin café, and a neighbourhood baker.
They encourage viewers to get misplaced within the particulars, suggesting a district made wealthy by folks slightly than company façades. The broader format system attracts on cues from village noticeboards, the place overlapping components subtly trace at neighborhood life.
Since a delicate launch in Amsterdam, the id has been embraced by the municipality, Zuidas residents and the broader metropolis. As Pleasure notes, the undertaking options “actually charming illustrations”, a particular voice, and a contemporary thought for what Zuidas could possibly be subsequent.
