A waterfront office with the view kept and the noise gone

Multraship's new waterfront HQ was built with big windows and open sightlines while controlling sound.

An open-sided focus booth in the office, which works acoustically because the Rockfon Color-all ceiling above absorbs sound across the whole floor.

A workplace on the water's edge

Multraship's new head office sits in Terneuzen, right on the Westerschelde estuary in the southwest of the Netherlands. Tugboats, tankers and container ships pass by constantly, this stretch of water is part of the company's daily operational area.

The energy-neutral building, designed by KochAdviesgroep, houses around 75 staff across offices, a warehouse, a dispatch centre and a training centre with a simulator. It was built for the view, with large windows and open sightlines out to the harbour.

But that's also what made it a hard building to keep quiet.

Big windows, hard surfaces, open sightlines

Glass, hard materials and open space all reflect sound, and this building has plenty of all three. Multraship knew the risk first-hand: their previous office in the city centre had acoustic problems, so this time they wanted it solved from the start.

"Given the style of the building and the many windows, we were concerned that acoustics might become an issue," said Joan Nuijten-Muller, HR Manager at Multraship. "That's why we paid a great deal of attention to this in the interior design choices."

That led to acoustic ceilings and walls throughout the interior, and double glazing in the partition walls.

Project info

Project name

Multraship Head Office

Location

Terneuzen, The Netherlands

Architecture

Koch Adviesgroep

Installation

Maas Afbouw

Photography

Lucas van der Wee

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Products used

Rockfon Color-all®

View

A monitoring station with four screens, semi-open to the rest of the floor, where the modular ceiling keeps the space quiet enough to concentrate.

“Given the style of the building and the many windows, we were concerned that acoustics might become an issue. That's why we paid a great deal of attention to this in the interior design choices.”

Joan Nuijten-Muller

— HR Manager at Multraship

A four-person workstation with dual monitors and phone lines at every seat, kept acoustically comfortable by the ceiling above.

A closer look at the Rockfon Color-all ceiling, installed with an A edge so the grid stays visible.

A lounge area where black-and-white photography sits well against the muted Color-all in Stone.

The coffee corner, where conversation and the noise of the machine are absorbed by the ceiling overhead.

Color-all in Stone

The interior designers at LAVOIR concept + interieur wanted a specific look, and Multraship had clear acoustic requirements. Maas Afbouw proposed Rockfon Color-all in Stone, a muted grey-white that sits well against the changing light off the water without competing with it.

The tiles are installed with an A edge, which keeps the grid visible as a deliberate part of the look rather than hiding it. Color-all in Stone runs right through the building, offices, reception, circulation and breakout spaces, and the bathrooms, so the acoustic treatment and the colour stay consistent everywhere.

Installing it wasn't entirely standard. The building sits outside the dike, a rare thing to get permission for in the Netherlands, and the transition between two different ceiling systems needed care: piping ran above the suspended ceiling, and the connection had to stay thin enough not to show.

"At the transitions, the construction could not be too thick, as that would become visible. But I think we managed that well," said Martijn Verplanken of Maas Afbouw.

Rockfon Color-all in the bathrooms, keeping the finish and acoustics consistent throughout the building.

Another open, glass-walled work area, kept calm by the acoustic ceiling despite all the hard surfaces.

The reception ceiling in Rockfon Color-all.

Multraship's head office in Terneuzen, built outside the dike with the Westerschelde right alongside.

Quiet inside, whatever passes outside

The finished office gives Multraship what its old one couldn't: an open, glass-walled workplace with the view they wanted and the quiet work environment they needed.

"We are very satisfied with the result. Both in terms of appearance and acoustics, it is definitely a major improvement," said Nuijten-Muller.

Also fitting out a glass-walled office where the view can't come at the cost of a calm workplace? Get in touch, and we'll help you get the right acoustics solutions.