Jaarbeurs Conference Centre and Offices

Project: Jaarbeurs Utrecht - MeetUp Conference Centre and Offices

Segment: Office

Country/city: Netherlands/Utrecht

Interior architect: Leendert Sprey of Kraaijvanger architects

Installer: Ruitenbeek project construction

Photographer: Studio VHF

Project size: 4,000 m²

Modern meeting places with that wow factor 

Jaarbeurs MeetUp is a new conference centre on the first and third floors of the Beatrixgebouw building in Utrecht. It’s a central meeting place with high-tech meeting rooms available 24/7 for all kinds of gatherings and networking. The Jaarbeurs offices are also located in the same building. Solo Circle XL, Dot LED and Focus Ds XL panels are used to optimise the acoustic environment and lighting. This Dot system with circular LED luminaires provides beautiful, circular, opal lighting in the panel. Large numbers of the detachable panels are also used in extra large format. This gives a unique effect of luminous circles and spaciousness as well as the necessary acoustic comfort.

Ambiance and intelligent technology

The MeetUp Plaza is a pleasant and distinctive meeting place with an 87 metre long white translucent curtain that softens the space and makes it easy to split the room into sections. You can choose from six ‘moods’ denoting inspiration, safe, valued, energetic, cosy and image, making the room the perfect place for any meeting. The use of images, sounds, colours, smells and tastes stimulates all the senses. The adjacent meeting rooms are fully equipped. With its advanced technology, the intelligent wall design responds to the environment. Clients can control the mood themselves. The technology is easy to use and enhances interaction in the room. 

Unique light and format

Based on a sophisticated lighting plan, the XL format of the panels is designed to be used with the integrated Dot LED luminaire. The concealed Dot system can even be seen very clearly from the outside, providing a characteristic image of luminous circles. 

Vital acoustics

“Good acoustics are vital for the way we experience and use the MeetUp Plaza and conference rooms”, says Kraaijvanger’s interior designer Leendert Spreij. “Of prime consideration is the ability to meet, to be secluded and to work. The integrated technology and application of good acoustic facilities plays a very important role in this. We achieved the new high level of comfort by using a range of sound absorbent materials to provide an optimum acoustic. We installed Solo Circle XL in the MeetUp plaza as suspended acoustic units. The soffit is coated with black acoustic paint, highlighting the Solo panels and optically separating them from the underlying building structure. In the conference rooms, the concealed demountable Focus Ds with all the installation components integrated was the most appropriate system.” 

Looks, quality and completion time

“The Jaarbeurs was highly ambitious when it came to looks, quality and completion time, taking just seven weeks from installation up to delivery and commissioning. Prior to the renovation, the ceilings looked dated and untidy. After the renovation and installation of the new Ecophon ceiling panels, it all feels more grand and dynamic. The optical effect is that the room seems higher. The room now also gets the ‘buzz’ we wanted from the non-directional Solo panels and the wavy curtains. At the same time, the panels and curtains also mark out the more intimate places in the MeetUp Plaza.” 

Pleasant working atmosphere

“The Ecophon ceiling panels meet all our criteria”, confirms Jaap de Oude, Technical Department Manager at Jaarbeurs Utrecht. “We wanted to reduce ambient noise levels in our offices. That’s definitely extremely important in open-plan offices. Noise levels are now lower. There’s no reverberation. People use sound systems in the conference rooms and even there, the noise level remains normal, despite amplification. We no longer hear the noise from the air conditioning system either. The sound environment feels natural. The sound was often loud prior to the renovation, partly offset by floor coverings, but now, noise is adequately absorbed by the ceilings even where the floor is still hard. The ceilings provide a quiet environment. This soon became apparent in the pilot study we did in the offices. They create a pleasant working environment and fit perfectly into our totally new meeting room concept in the Jaarbeurs.”

The wow factor

“In short, the spaces are beautiful and the unique ceiling panels have created the wow factor we wanted.”
Interior designer Leendert Spreij

“With its distinctive style, comfortable environment, sensory stimulation and surprise effects, MeetUp has become the conference centre of the future. The dynamic and adaptive rooms with fully integrated facilities and intelligent wall design offer flexible and smart solutions”, says interior designer Leendert Spreij.