Strijp-T: From coal power plant to Innovation Powerhouse

The former Philips power plant TR on Zwaanstraat will be transformed into the new entrance of the Strijp-T area as the 'Innovation Powerhouse'. The industrial building is currently undergoing renovation to accommodate the design and innovation agency VanBerlo starting from August 2017. Additionally, there will be room for companies in the innovative creative sector.

This picture below captures the moment when the renovation was still ongoing, requiring a good amount of imagination to envision a studio, workshops, offices, and other spaces that would eventually occupy the large, empty halls.

"Almost all the original machinery, which was necessary for the removal of asbestos, has sadly disappeared," explains founder Ad van Berlo during a tour. On the ground floor, there are enormous concrete pillars supporting a simple steel construction with concrete floors and single brick walls. The rest will be newly constructed. Some valves and other components have been saved. Van Berlo is searching for an artistic way to incorporate these into the building.

Concrete pillars, steel structures, a vast emptiness. The power plant at Strijp-T in Eindhoven is being renovated for innovative companies.

A large coal chutes are still visible. Coal used to be transported to the top floor and then deposited in the ovens several stories high through the chutes. The plant, which provided energy to the entire Philips area since the 1950s, later switched to oil and then to gas. Now, there is a biogas plant next door. "It has undergone four phases of energy processing, and we are now giving the building a new lease of life, a fifth phase," says Janne van Berlo, daughter of Van Berlo and architect at Atelier Van Berlo. She collaborated on the design plans with the well-known Eindhoven architects Margriet Eugelink and Stefan de Bever. "We have approached it with a lot of respect for the historic building," says Janne van Berlo.

A section of the building has an open steel construction and will be filled with greenery. The construction of the energy plant was never actually completed. "Now we are restoring the symmetry that can be seen in the designer Last's drawings," said Janne van Berlo.

Artist impression by Janne van Berlo, Atelier Van Berlo.

VanBerlo has been searching for new premises for several years. CEO Thomas Paulen stated: "We have outgrown our current location on Beemdstraat. We were in need of a new building that would not only offer more space but also plenty of inspiration. Being situated near Strijp-S, the creative hub of Eindhoven, it will undoubtedly provide this." Currently, around a hundred people are employed at VanBerlo. The new premises will include a 2000-square-meter studio with various workstations in the front low-rise building on Zwaanstraat, as well as a 400-meter workshop.

8000 m2 of office spaces are planned in the rear section of the building over four storeys in the 16-metre high hall. These are all intended for businesses that have something to do with the innovation industry in the broadest sense. From 3D printers, a model workshop and construction companies to patent agencies or software designers 'as long as they are innovative'. There is a lot of interest, says Van Berlo. "I think that we will sooner have to make a good selection than that there will be empty spaces."

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