Pharos, Europe’s Healthiest Working Environment

A New Identity for a Vacant Office Building

With the departure of the National Immigration Service from Pharos in Hoofddorp, this former single-tenant office building needed a refurbishment, but more importantly a new identity, to attract new tenants. Together with de nieuwe draai, we developed a new innovative concept for Pharos that translates wellness and healthy living to the workplace.

Let’s Create Europe’s Healthiest Working Environment

Office work is increasingly leading to physical and mental problems. Taking this fact as a starting point, Pharos formulated a clear mission: to become Europe’s healthiest working environment. But Pharos also wants to become a movement for healthy working outside the walls of one’s own building, by inspiring professionals throughout the Netherlands to improve their well-being at work. This integral concept became the backbone of a new style, branding and storytelling of the building.

Pharos wants to become a movement for healthy working

An Open Call to the Market

To help build a strategy to create Europe’s healthiest working environment, we launched an open call to the market: which innovative companies can help us turn Pharos into an ultra-healthy building with their solutions? This campaign proved to be a success. Numerous market players, from tech startups to traditional construction companies, came forward. From this pool, we assembled a coalition of more than 20 suppliers who together gave substance to the redevelopment of Pharos, ranging from a producer of carbon-neutral paint to a company supplying air-conditioning systems that provide air as fresh as in the Swiss Alps.

An Open-Ended Graphic Identity

Paving the way for the actual redevelopment of the building, the visual identity of Pharos was launched before the first architectural render was finished. In close collaboration with The Hague-based digital design agency Papa, we created a fresh and attractive brand profile that resulted in print material, a website and numerous online campaigns. The website featured a glimpse of the future, and the stories behind the people and ideas that make Pharos a place like no other. For more than two years we created all content for the Pharos website and social media channels.

19 Floors of Innovation

After the redevelopment, Pharos has become a building that delivers on its promises. The building is packed with technology and facilities that contribute to the ultimate healthy working environment. The 19^th floor has become a collective space for all tenants with an amazing view over Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. It also hosts a cocktail bar, event space, boardroom and recharge room, as well as a showcase of state-of-the-art solutions that make work more healthy, productive and enjoyable. The restaurant on the ground floor of the Pharos building, designed by Sheryl Leysner and run by chef Jonathan Karpathios, offers a healthy and carbon-positive lunch made with produce from local farmers. Tenants appreciate Pharos: the building is now 100% let.