SX has the floor

The origins of Strijp‑S

“I was a resounding success from the very start in 1916. Which building can claim that it was extended four times in eight years? Just saying. Another glass building was added in 1925, which actually still carries that name. Which is a thorn in my side, really. At the end of the day, Strijp‑S was started here and nowhere else. People ramble on about the Klokgebouw and the Machinekamer, where things are happening, so to speak. But they were just the workers’ buildings in the past. If I hadn’t produced that many bulbs at the beginning, those other buildings wouldn’t even have been built. People forget that sometimes. And glass blowers were skilled artisans, you know. Most were from Maastricht or Leerdam, or from even further afield like Germany and Belgium. Those men earned 20 guilders a week even 100 years ago. TWENTY GUILDERS a week!

Grand Central Station

Glass was no longer blown here after 1960 and the bigwigs looked for a new purpose for me. They first took me down to the ground and then rebuilt me as SX. Those were difficult years, because there were all sorts of things here at the time, but nothing that warmed your heart really. Salary admin, planning and control, human resources, training department, the office workers canteen and the staff conference room, they were all here for about 12 years. It was like Grand Central Station. Quite some fuss, but not really. I nearly fell asleep once, which caused a few nasty cracks in the foundations.

Designers in the house

Whether it was down to the cracks I don’t know, but I was torn down and rebuilt in 1977. Fifteen wonderful years followed, during which I got used to being surrounded by creatives because Philips Design moved in. Great times, with men like Knut Yran and later Stefano Marzano as directors. Those guys started at ten in the morning and didn’t stop until well into the evening. I mattered again because design became increasingly important. Later, unfortunately, Corporate Design moved to the Witte Dame, and again I got all sorts in. With increasingly difficult names like Digital Videocommunication Systems, Logistics, Communication & Security Systems and (read carefully) BU Broadband Networks. I’ve been known to think in those days: “The longer the name, the shorter the fame”.

Media, sports and marketing

The last major refurbishment is just behind us and that’s more than sufficient as far as I’m concerned. Not just anybody gets in here. And I’m the one and only with a designated car park in front of the door. More than 40 companies large and small are sheltered under my roof and under the name SX Sport Marketing Media. A lot of fast, young people and a visit from a famous sportsperson almost every day. And the best thing of all is that I can now tell my story every day thanks to a large LED Video Wall. ‘That other building’ with its big clock doesn’t have a patch on that.”