World Trade Centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands by PLP Architecture

Article source: PLP Architecture

The construction of Tower Ten, the new expansion of the World Trade Centre Amsterdam, officially began last week at a Ground Breaking Ceremony launched by deputy director Sandra Thesing of the City of Amsterdam and Ronald van der Waals of CBRE Global Investors, the Fund Manager of the Fund that owns the building in the Zuidas central business district.

Since gaining planning approval from the city last year, the site has been decanted and prepared ready for part demolition and reconstruction. Much of the structure and slabs of the existing facility will be re-used, though Tower Ten will present a radically different appearance from its predecessor, adding 32,000 sqm of new office space and amenities in the process.

The original World Trade Center was built in the 1980s as a rational sequence of gridded blocks of concrete frame and glazed curtain walling. A thorough refurbishment of the four original towers, as well as a substantial extension to the campus, were completed over a decade ago by the design team led by Ron Bakker and Lee Polisano of PLP Architecture. PLP has now returned to the campus to deliver the third major iteration in the history of the Center’s development.

Image Courtesy © PLP Architecture

• Architects: PLP Architecture
• Project: World Trade Centre in Amsterdam
• Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Image Courtesy © PLP Architecture

The new intervention is the creation of three linked pavilion buildings to the north-east of the campus, adjacent to a feature 22 storey tower facing Beethovenstraat and the south-west corner of Beatrixpark, which in turn has recently been developed as an innovative extension of the business district. Circulation atria connect the new and adjacent buildings, bringing natural light into the deeper floorplates. The character of the first campus extension was defined by a curved glass roof covering a lively internal space, and this will now be extended along the northern edge in a swooping wave along the Strawinskylaan, providing a canopy for the pavilion buildings.

The tower is animated by a transparent and active frontage, an inviting gesture that draws visitors into the building and along the public spine that connects through the whole complex. The vertical volume grows from the orthogonal geometry of the WTC grid at its base, then splays horizontally as the building ascends. Bright white sculptural louvres spray upwards like flower stems, giving identity to the eastern entrance.

Rather than providing restrictive and inflexible spaces, this combination of new and retained building elements will allow a great variety of floorplan configurations, fitting many forms of current and evolving workplace types: from co-working spaces and small tenancies to larger multi-storey headquarters. The WTC will benefit from several further new amenities: the rooftops of lower structures in the complex will be topped with accessible planted terraces, and the new tower features a roof garden. The WTC event space located on the tower’s top floor will offer panoramic views over Amsterdam’s old town and the Zuidas district.

Ron Bakker, Founding Partner at PLP Architecture, said: “We are very pleased to be able to continue our involvement with the life and success of the WTC in Amsterdam, which has contributed much to the development of high-quality urban workplace communities”

Tower Ten is now under construction and will be completed in 2021.

Image Courtesy © PLP Architecture

Tags: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Categories: complex, Garden, Headquarters, space, Terrace, Tower, Trade Fair Centre

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