The North Delegates Lounge is a significant place as the United Nations’ premier friendly space where diplomats, staff, and friends can meet and talk. On behalf of the Dutch government, a project team of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs approached four Dutch designers and architects at the beginning of 2011. The design team added new features while maintaining the history of the lounge, “a preservation of change.” The team considered the original design and furnishing of the North Delegates Lounge and the changes that it has undergone since 1952. The lounge was made to have functionality, comfort, timelessness, serenity, and privacy of the delegates while still facilitating encounters. 

The Dutch design team of the North Delegates Lounge consisted of Hella Jongerius (industrial designer), Rem Koolhaas (OMA architect), Irma Boom (graphic designer), Gabriel Lester (artist), and Louise Schouwenberg (theorist).

Representatives of the Netherlands, including Minister for Foreign Affairs Franciscus Cornelis Gerardus Maria Timmermans, and Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, presented and attended the inauguration of UN Headquarters’ refurbished North Delegates’ Lounge. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the gift presentation from the Netherlands.