The historic department store of Vroom & Dreesmann forms a beacon for the center of Amsterdam. The complex between the Rokin and Kalverstraat consists of a combination of different buildings which have been renovated several times over the past hundred years. Office Winhov aimed to unravel this condition of rich stratification, bringing back the original qualities of the buildings while respecting the different styles of renovation. A few new elements have been added which make a more varied program for the complex possible.
In a narrow street in Amsterdam’s Weteringbuurt, between former factories, schools, business premises and weavers’ houses, stands a new residential building containing 19 apartments: Simonzs, designed by Ronald Janssen Architecten. Large vertical concrete slabs give the building the solid, imposing look of a structure that has always been here and always will be.
The size of this large residential building on Fokke Simonszstraat harks back to the school and later homeless shelter that previously stood on this spot. The entrance to the residences has been placed at the centre of the complex, enhancing its monumental character. Meanwhile, the 44-metre-long facade has been articulated to harmonise with the adjoining structures. On the top storey, it recedes at several points, continuing the rhythm of the street’s narrow buildings.
Take one imposing building, consisting of three separate areas, serving a very diverse clientele, and turn it into one giant living area that caters to the need of all. That, in a nutshell, was the challenge in renovating Amsterdam’s Hotel Casa.
Founded in the late 1950s to help solve the housing shortage for students, Casa has always been a hybrid of sorts, serving as the (temporary) home of hotel guests, locals, student residents and people attending a board meeting or conference. In 2010 Casa moved to a new building but the concept stayed the same. Recent plans to renovate and modernise the convention center turned into a complete overhaul of both public and conference areas.
In the new design connectivity was key. There’s one central space for all visitors to enjoy. The focus lies less on specific functions like bar, restaurant or check-in area.
The striking white bus drivers building on the bus station at Amsterdam Central houses a workspace, pantry and a canteen for bus drivers on the first floor. Because the canteen is located on this higher level the drivers have a lot of privacy, with 180 degree views of the bus platform, the river IJ and Amsterdam North. On the ground floor there is space for storage, a technical area and toilets. The bus drivers building will be built in less than two months.
De Bijenkorf is a luxury department store with seven branches in the Netherlands and part of the British Selfridges Group. i29 interior architects made the design for the new 3500 m2 menswear department on the first floor of the Amsterdam store. Previously i29 and De Bijenkorf worked together on Room on the Roof, an artist in residence in the tower on the Dam Square and the interior of ‘The Kitchen’, the restaurant of De Bijenkorf Utrecht.
The monumental building on the Dam square in the heart of Amsterdam is a national monument. For the major renovation that is going on for some years, the British firm HMKM made a new retail strategy and KAAN architects an architectural vision. The starting point was unveiling the original construction and opening up the façade for more daylight and the connection with the city.
Metro Oostlijn in Amsterdam is again a safe and pleasant place with a strong identity. Without denying the original character, but by making visible the original rough-looking DNA in combination with the addition of contrasting refined materials, a future-proof and comfortable Metro line has been resurrected.
The Oostlijn runs from the Central Station to Amsterdam Zuid-Oost, partially underground and partially elevated. The brutalist design for the Oostlijn, by architects Spängberg and Van Rhijn, dates back to the seventies. Over the years, however, the original concept has become muddled, the Oostlijn is no longer equipped to face the future. The commission for the renovation includes the refurbishment of the underground platforms, the hallways and the entrances of sixteen stations.
The NEMO Science Museum opened its doors in 1997 with a new building in the center of Amsterdam. The building, designed by Renzo Piano, is a popular attraction for children. With the recent extension Studio, in a former sports hall on the Marineterrein directly opposite NEMO on the other side of the Oosterdok water, the museum shifts the focus to adults.
The design of Studio fits well with the innovative character of the Marineterrein, a 12.7 hectare site, where the navy has been located for 360 years. The site is partially opened for public in 2015 by the Ministry of Defense. Since then, organizations and researchers that are working on solutions to social challenges and a sustainable living environment settled here. Many buildings on the site have been transformed for new uses. In 2016, for example, the SLA bureau transformed one of the navy’s educational buildings for innovative startups.
This recently completed luxury-housing complex, consisting of 45 residential units in two volumes–one street side, and the other canal-facing–are connected by an underground, communal parking garage, and are separated above by an internal, and lushishly landscaped, intimate courtyard for its residents. Four penthouses are situated on the top two floors of the rear, canal-facing volume; two on the front. The building itself is sited on the eastern edge of Amsterdam’s city center, which was built in the sixteenth century, about a half a kilometer from the ‘Zuiderkerk’ (Southern Church), which dates from 1608. Due to the delicate nature of the site within the center of historic Amsterdam, groundwork during preparation of the building’s foundation, uncovered evidence of archaeological remains from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which the city excavated and studied. After months of the site’s excavation by the city, construction proceed on–The Double.
Article source: Studio Paulien Bremmer & Hootsmans architectuurbureau
‘It’s a landscaping solution,’ says architect of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut’s new building Paulien Bremmer as she walks through the completed facility. Its luminous, high and always unexpectedly connected spaces call for exploration and use and, of course, new work by art academy students.
Bremmer herself studied at not only Delft University of Technology, but also both the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Sandberg Instituut. She received this design commission after an internal competition to which teams of students, lecturers and alumni could submit proposals. The Rietveld community and a professional jury both selected Fedlev, the design team that Bremmer formed with fellow Rietveld alumni Maze de Boer, Luca Carboni and Sandra Stanionyte; during the design process, more designers joined Fedlev.
Aiming to work in a multidisciplinary way, Fedlev created so-called ‘white spaces’ inside the design and called upon artists and designers from the art academy to fill them in. These subsequently designed components of the new building and of the redevelopment of the existing buildings. ‘We’re very proud of this,’ says chair of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie’s executive board Annelies van Eenennaam. ‘It also sends a clear message about our principles, giving art academy alumni some elbow room. It may be a little more risky, but this approach always produces unexpected results. We would like to see it applied more widely.’
Project: Extension Rietveld Academy + Sandberg institute
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Photography: Jeroen Verrecht, Johannes Schwartz
Client: Stichting Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Project Architect: Paulien Bremmer
Team Competition to Structural Design: Paulien Bremmer with Maze de Boer, Sandra Stanionyte, Luca Carboni and Marjan van Herpen, Joost Huyzer, Akira Negishi, Jan Willem Petersen, Luuc Sonke, Victor Verhage, Stephanie Willocx
Team Preliminary Design to Inauguration: Fedlev: Paulien Bremmer, Marjan van Herpen, Joost Huyzer, Anne Dessing, Alexander Lefebvre, Anastasia Pandilovska, Milan Rikhof, Luuc Sonke, Vincka Struben, Claudia Temperilli. Hootsmans architects: Rob Hootsmans, Daan Petri, Carlota Alvarado, Remco Bruggink, René Bos, Elke Demyttenaere, Pier Helder, Viktor van Hooff, Jeroen Kreijne, Eric van Noord
Interior Design: Fedlev led by Paulien Bremmer, in collaboration with Hootsmans architects
Tags: Amsterdam, The Netherlands Comments Off on Extension Rietveld Academy + Sandberg institute in Amsterdam, The Netherlands by Fedlev led by Paulien Bremmer in collaboration with Hootsmans architectuurbureau
Usabilla’s new office is a hidden gem in the heart of Amsterdam’s city center. Recently, different departments have moved into the space to stimulate collaboration. Besides improving interaction between teams, the office also needed to be ‘a fun place.’
The resulting design is an office with a high degree of transparency, offering diverse workplace settings. These range from various types of meeting rooms, phone booths to focus rooms.