Witte Dame

Eindhoven
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A former Philip’s factory building, known as the Witte Dame, has been converted into a multifunctional building for design, art, information and technology. This unofficial monument has been conserved by reusing the shell for new functions including accommodation for the Design Academy, Eindhoven’s architecture centre, the main branch of the public library and a design department of Philip’s Lighting. The most important renovation is the transformation of the middle zone. The central entrance of the Witte Dame, plus a number of shared facilities such as an auditorium, is situated at an important point on the town plan: on the axis of the route from the city centre via the Lichtplein to the Philipsstadion,. The collective character of the building is less pronounced than originally intended due to the difficulty in combining the logistical, accessibility and safety demands of the different users. An essential factor in the renovation of the Witte Dame is that the building was changed as little as possible. The facade and the arrangement of the floor plates remain unaltered.