The Ant House is the name of the building which is the HQ office of a client I worked for while in Amsterdam. For facts like - the architect of the building, the year it was built, etc, I trusted Google to know it. My memory as good as it maybe is also lazy, so when a client had told me all of that information, I had smiled and thought bet google knows more, but unfortunately, Google doesn't know it all. Alas! somethings are meant to be a mystery. However, I would like to applaud the architect of this magnificent building for designing such an imaginative and free-flowing space which allows for creativity and co-creating.
The building is sprawled across 13+ towers all connected on the inside, some by mysterious little channels I discovered with someone's help. The layout was by no means linear, it was exactly like how you would imagine an Ant Hill. In fact, nothing was linear, including the arches and the steps and stairways. Inside, each tower was 5 floors and the ceiling was glass, to allow for natural light, as were most of the side walls glass, to allow for the green nature to come inside. There were pockets of open spaces where you could find a Japanese garden in one, an open cafeteria in another, and a bonfire in the next.
The main floor had tastefully decorated meeting rooms each with unique names. The chairs were heavy-duty, the tables were mahogany, the walls beautifully decorated with art, spider coms neatly placed with no view of wiring and sly panels hiding huge screens for sharing content in the meetings. In one such room was a picture of the building, a very haunting and captivating picture. The building standing tall on a hill with a storm raging behind.
The best part about my day was walking into and out of the office. When I had first visited here, I thought I had entered Hogwarts. This place felt magical right from the moment I entered through the revolving doors. The doors only work if you swipe your access card and have an opening large enough for only one person, you just can't tailgate into this office, very much like the ministry of magic phone booth or the magic passwords to enter the dorms or like floo powder. This floor leads up to the main floor via a passage/slope which, I believe, is for the mobility of the physically disabled because there is also a staircase right next to it, which I used on days I wore heels and couldn't strain a walk. This slope was my favorite. Flanked on one side by glass walls with a view of the gardens and poison ivy walls to a stone handrail with water flowing through stone-carved grooves on the other. I felt so calm walking in and out of the office using this passage. I would often run my fingers through the water going out of the office at the end of my day.
This client is now moving to a newer and swankier HQ and the fate of the Ant House is undecided. I heard they were planning to convert it into an apartment or a housing facility. I hope they turn into a hotel which can be visited by anyone while maintaining the integrity of this place.
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