Location：Rotterdam, Netherlands; | ;

Project Year：2020

Category：Offices

Dove, Ben & Jerry’s, Cif and Knorr: brands we all know, and part of multinational Unilever. For the new Unilever Benelux headquarters Silo developed a spatial branding strategy that celebrates the diversity of the brands, but also connects them. The result is an inspiring office environment that contributes to a strong organizational identity for Unilever.

Unilever’s brands and products are linked at a strategic level by shared values and purpose. The ingenious logo on all products makes this visible. The headquarter offices are the ultimate location to translate this strategy into the spatial environment. The interior reflects connectedness: you tacitly experience the themes that Unilever considers most important.

Mecanoo designed the interior like a thriving city. The multifunctional cabinet system brings order to the collection of brands and forms the facade of a central axis with adjacent quarters for the various departments.

Walls are clad in felt reliefs made from recycled PET, in line with Unilever’s ambition to radically reduce the amount of new plastic in its packaging. Cut-outs and unexpected combinations of logo fragments lend the reliefs an abstract appearance.

The various stories of the brands and the history of Unilever are detailed in an immense visual story that is echoed throughout the interior. Unilever City is populated by hundreds of unique characters that bring the familiar products to life. Key innovations from the past, legendary campaigns and sustainability ambitions: the illustration is an ultimate conversation starter.