De Nieuwe Liefde in Amsterdam, the Netherlands by Wiel Arets

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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

De Nieuwe Liefde in Amsterdam, the Netherlands by Wiel Arets Architects

April 30th, 2011 by Sumit Singhal

The monumental white building on Amsterdam’s Da Costakade was originally constructed in 1901 as a storage space for a wine company, before being converted into a parish in 1932 named De Liefde (‘The Love’). After falling into disrepair after many renovations, and with the last tenants leaving the property in 2007, the complex was completely rebuilt by Wiel Arets Architects and renames ‘De Nieuwe Liefde (‘The New Love’). The reconstruction included transforming the existing complex of buildings into a theatre and community centre composed of a main hall with seating for 230, a conference room with space for 60, a choir space for 50, a library, a grand foyer and a restaurant-café.

De Nieuwe Liefde

Architects: Wiel Arets Architects
Project: De Nieuwe Liefde (The New Love)
Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Project Team: Wiel Arets, Bettina Kraus, Gwendolyn Kerschbaumer, Julius Klatte, Dennis Villanueva, Marie Morin
Collaborators: Bas van der Pol, Natali Gagro
Date of Design: 2007-2010
Software used: Vectorworks

De Nieuwe Liefde

Construction: April 2010-February 2011
Date of Completion: 2011
Budget: € 1.700.000
Photographs: Jan Bitter, Sjaak Henselmans
Client: Amerborgh Monumenten BV
Program: Theatre/Community Center
Site Area: 760 m2
Building Area: 738m2
Total Floor Area: 1960m2
Consultants: Zonneveld (construction); WRI (installations & building physics)

De Nieuwe Liefde

Bibliography:

Maarten Muns, ‘In Ere Hersteld De Geschiedenis van Da Costakade 102’, Roodkoper, February 2011, pg. 166-169
Rudie Kagie, ‘Huis van Liefde’, Vrij Nederland, pg. 80-83

Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

The building retains many of its original eclectic Neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau features, setting it apart from its immediate surroundings. by a depth of between 25 and 30 meters, reflecting its original use as a space for wine storage. Throughout the 20th century the various tenants had all left their mark on the building: rooms were small and oddly divided with few receiving natural light, multiple staircases were needed to traverse the building,

Interior View

The biggest challenge was to transform a dark and narrow staircase into a grand entry foyer that connects to the main circulation core. The original core received no natural light, thus requiring a long skylight to be created in combination with the circulation core, introducing daylight throughout the entire complex and visually connecting the most important spaces to one another across multiple levels. Additional visual connections to the outside were created in the café where large skylights enliven an otherwise enclosed space.

Interior View

Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

Siting Hall

Chairs

Stage View

Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

Interior View

Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: De Nieuwe Liefde

: De Nieuwe Liefde

: De Nieuwe Liefde

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Interior View

: Interior View

: Interior View

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Siting Hall

: Chairs

: Stage View

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Interior View

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Interior View

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Image Courtesy Sjaak Henselmans

: Siting Hall

: Interior View

: Interior View

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

Contact Wiel Arets Architects

Tags: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Categories: Community Centre, Vectorworks

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