The design itself is radical in its simplicity: a simple shoe-box with two floors, as simple as possible, except that the first floor was not flat but a sequence of large steps. This resulted in a ground floor with increasing ceiling heights towards the garden, and a first floor stepping up towards the roof deck. In order to also keep the execution as simple as possible, lightweight stone block was selected as the main building material, with the lightweight blocks serving as insulation and structure at the same time.

Immediately it grabbed attention: Although the orange was officially approved by the municipality (not to mention that it is the national colour of the Netherlands), the orange was for some neighbours too orange. They started to complain about the brightness causing ‘unlivable’ circumstances. This led to a public debate on whether this colour was aggressive or just cheerful.
In exchange for a new colour, the city accepted a change in the function of the building from office to residential and office, and a mediator assisted in the selection of a new colour. The orange polyurethane coating was changed to apple green, a classic but nice compromise, not orange but still bright