Renovations of Sportcentrum Kees

Sportcentrum Kees is located on the edge of the prestigious Bilthoven-North. More than 4000 m2 of sports facilities; indoor tennis, fitness, squash and group lessons. In April 2021, Muurbloem design studio was asked to design a new reception experience with a new entrance building, a new reception desk, a new kitchen and a completely new decoration of the catering area and the transport areas. Muurbloem design studio also took care of the preliminary phase with advice about the budget and the project scope, as well as construction supervision during the execution of the project.

Concept

The former entrance building of Sportcentrum Kees was designed in such a way that visitors had to enter the building walking past the window of the restaurant, so that in the absence of the receptionist, the bar employee could keep an eye on who was coming and who was leaving. In order to achieve a certain efficiency gain, it was decided to merge the reception function and the bar function into a host function. This host had to be given a central place in the reception hall with a view of the entrance, the restaurant and the corridor to the changing rooms – a kind of panopticon of Bentham. To this end, the existing closed kitchen was demolished to make way for an open reception desk, thus creating a large reception hall with a smooth transition between the various functions of entry, sports and relaxation.

To further improve the entrance to Sportcentrum Kees, a new entrance building was designed with high glass windows and automatic sliding doors. The former entrance building was comparable in design, size and materials to the rest of the low-rise buildings between the two sports halls. As a result, it was not always clear to visitors where the entrance was. The creation of a new direct line of approach and an entrance with a different design language in terms of architecture has resulted in more clarity in the routing on the outside area.

In terms of decoration, the objective was to achieve a more high-end appearance that better suited the target audience and the neighbourhood. The former interior dated from the last century and largely consisted of dark red floor tiles, red suspended ceilings, concrete bricks and light blue accents. To give the interior a more contemporary look, it was decided to strip the walls, to provide the floor with wood color PVC and to spray paint the system ceiling black.

The fantastic green environment has always been a guiding principle in the design. Creative director Gonnette Smits always says, “Nature is the best designer,” and so we have once again set ourselves the goal of drawing that green environment indoors. To brighten up the interior still consisting of the existing furniture, we filled the space with all kinds of house plants and provided wallpaper from our Botanic Garden collection on the back wall.

Activities

In the run-up to the project, Muurbloem design studio supported the owner of the property in determining the budget and scope of the project. We advised the owner on how to get the best results within the budget, and how to make the biggest impact with creative solutions.

Muurbloem design studio also took care of the complete technical design, the application for the building permit, project management and construction supervision during the implementation.

Finally, the Muurbloem design team designed the color plan, lighting plan and electrical plan and provided the parts of the interior with appropriate materials.

Specially designed for this project:

• custom counter furniture
• custom bar furniture