The past meets the future at the physical location of FreedomLab. The classic building FreedomLab resides in on Singel 282 was build in 1639 and designed by Philips Vingboons (1607- 1678). In the middle of the 17th century Vingboons was the most renowned architect of Amsterdam, famous for his creative adaptation of classicist style and the invention of the neck facade found on many buildings in the old center of Amsterdam.

FreedomLabs interior is a completely different ballpark. Our Lab is an open space design where the multi-disciplinary FreedomLab team can work in a home like environment. The Lab is decorated with non-tech furniture. We haven chosen for natural materials where possible ; so called cradle-to-cradle design (see Sharing Visions - Braungart), from various young Dutch designers. Our Lab is a convergence of Dutch Design, for our own inspiration and that of our foreign guests.Of course the Lab it is full of the latest gadgets. With more than three times as many screens as people working here (not including the small portable stuff like pda’s, iphones or 100 dollar laptops).

We try to use all the latest technology as prosumers and truly experience our own inhibitions or eureka-moments in the adoption process of new technologies. For example, The Roomba-robot (a robo-vaccuum-cleaner first line descendant from the famous bomb-squad robot) looks like a peaceful and silently sliding frisbee. But, in practice it sounds like a landmower with a F1 exhaust. So, during work-hours it’s a no-go. Deploying it at night seemed the solution. Seemed… Our state-of-the-art security system can’t deal with robo-cleaners (or our Aibo) snooping around at night. Our Roomba is gathering dust right now; though not in its dustbag, but on top of it’s shiny cover.