Case study
The Booking.com premises: a home for everyone
August 7, 2023
The perfect office does it all for you
Everything comes together in the new Booking.com head office: architecture, decor and functionalities. The key to success? Working together and having close ties with all those involved in the project.
Everyone agrees that – with this new gem on Oosterdokseiland – Amsterdam has gained another jewel in its crown. And yes: with 65,000 square metres of architectural excellence, high-end functionalities, 120 conference rooms, 800 solar panels, 6,500 plants and space for 5,000 occupants, these office premises are big, bigger, biggest. The true challenge, however, was to make sure that the entire building exudes Booking.com identity. CBRE provided the strategic advice, took care of the design of various parts of the building, developed the workplace concept together with Booking.com – and coordinated the construction of the campus as a whole with the project management team.
Mission accepted
CBRE has made a success of Booking.com’s premises in Amsterdam since 2014. As a strategic partner, we provide advice about real estate portfolios, getting the most out of existing and new premises and implementing hybrid working – always bearing in mind the financial consequences. So when our consultants were asked to share ideas and help us to think strategically about the next big thing, they immediately donned their thinking caps. The plot had already been acquired, the design for the building had been determined and the foundations had been thrown. The vision, too, was clear: a new head office in the centre of Amsterdam. It was the finer details that had not yet crystalised. It was time for all of us to role up sleeves and get stuck in!
Taking the journey together
CBRE and its team of experts from many fields have been involved in the building of the campus for the last seven years. Three themes were key in the process: an excellent workplace concept, architecture of the highest standard and optimum functionality. At the same time, the campus had to be built on schedule and within the budget. A complex puzzle that only fits together perfectly if all the various disciplines are in constant comms with one another. Slowly but surely an organic collaboration evolved, with CBRE assisting Booking.com in all domains – from design and fit-out to procurement and cost management.
From here to Tokyo
Booking.com is international, ambitious and optimistic. That exciting, positive vibe can be felt in every fibre of the new Booking.com head quarters. Take the design for instance: the brainchild of no fewer than ten specially selected architect firms, and a concept in which functionality and experience are seamlessly intertwined. The designers at CBRE were responsible for the first floor, the boardroom and the various breakout rooms. Each room has its own travel theme, where colleagues and visitors can meet in the jungle, on the beach or in a metropolitan city.
Something for everyone
The aim of a globally operating company like Booking.com is to be a safe haven for all its colleagues, whether you come from Vught or Venezuela. Key in this is ensuring that everyone has the perfect workstation. For instance, someone who has to concentrate on their work needs a quiet environment, while those working in a team, and are required to brainstorm, need a suitable project room. The solution? Team bases: separate units comprising fifty workstations each linked to a team. A smart move, because that’s how you use office space dynamically.
Fertile soil
If you think about it, it’s inconceivable that an office of global proportions found its home base in a small European country. You’d expect to find a tech campus like this in Silicon Valley instead. That this remarkable project materialised – and how it was achieved – is down to personal contact and mutual trust between all the organisations involved. Not only was the campus built, a team was forged – a close-knit group of people that together shouldered the project. Now that is something to write home about!
Project details
Client: Booking.comArchitect: UNStudio
Lead Interior Architect: HofmanDujardin
Project management: CBRE
Workplace Consultant: CBRE
Area designers: CBRE Design Collective, HofmanDujardin, i29, Linehouse Design, Studio Modijefsky, UNStudio
Layer designers: MOSS, Mijksenaar, Powerplant, Scholten & Baijings, Studio Rublek
Photography: Stijn Poelstra, Matthijs van Roon
Related insights
How do you create a central workplace where all your thousands of employees can feel at home? And where they can be happy, heathy and productive while they work? Booking.com asked themselves that very question in 2017.
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The new Booking.com headquarters proudly occupy an eye-catching position on Oosterdokseiland. An architectural masterpiece that provides high-end functionality.
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From the Northern Lights to Panama and beyond, Booking.com’s impressive headquarters will take you to all four corners of the world.
Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH has acquired the iconic Booking.com campus through a sale-and-leaseback construction.
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