Coenen Sättele Architecten

The Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) is an international non-profit air navigation service provider, operated by EUROCONTROL on behalf of four States – Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The building is situated next to the Maastricht Aachen airport in Beek , the Netherlands.  The organization  is  in operation  24 h / 7d a week.

In addition to the existing building , the new three story high R-building  accommodates  all the leisure facilities for the employees of Eurocontrol .

The building has a gross floorplan of 4230 m2 , exclusive the  basement, contains  a restaurant with  seating for 220 people , a kitchen , a gym that also can be used as a general purpose room , 2 VIP rooms , a recreation area, an internet aria, a library- music- and fitness room a bar-and lounge area and 12  dormitories. The R- building is connected to the existing building structure over 3 corridors into 3 levels.

The main design theme was to create an inviting, comfortable  and colorful  interior . We introduced a color bar code in the flooring of the corridors  as a visual binding factor for all the rooms and functions , to give the building a vibrant spirit. Natural materials like wood and natural stone ,  are used allover  to create a pleasant atmosphere. The elegant  curved lines  of the custom made furniture and  ceiling structure  in the restaurant create special, intimate , spots  in the restaurant area that is surrounded by floor to ceiling glass walls. Through big skylights  a lot of daylight enters the building . In the bar and lounge area on the first floor the daylight this is filtered by an wooden vertical strip ceiling to create an intimate feeling  , whereas through the skylight above the central corridor on the second floor  the  daylight that  is coming in,  gives an pleasant  airy feel. The color pattern of the floor of the corridor is here projected on the doors of the  dormitories as an individual  reference to the color code theme.

Our assignment was to design and elaborate  the interior-layout  including  the  custom made furniture and  lighting concept ;  make proposals for the materialization of the floors, walls and ceilings and advise  the client regarding  the regular furniture.