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.
Former power plant transformed into the multi-tenant Innovation Powerhouse. A transformation from a pure, brute, raw and heavy industrial complex – in size and volume completely unsuitable for office use – into a comfortable, breathing, spacious, fresh and young work environment.
A spatial house design for a small Dutch building plot offering a large variety of rooms. This required a non-standard dwelling layout.
The transformation of the Delft Railway Zone includes the creation of a new residential district: Nieuw Delft. The neighborhood of House CB005 is characterized by its small scale, family friendly living environment, narrow streets and typical Delft row houses. House CB005 is designed for a 5,1m wide and 10m long building plot, which is a typical plot size in the Netherlands. However the layout of the house is far from standard, because of the client’s specific wishes.
Stibbe headquarter’s urban context is characterized by the variety of spheres and different scale levels: to the east, the location is a continuation of Amsterdam’s South Axis, whereas the north side is mainly characterized by the A10 highway. On the west side the Beethoven Street is the main route to the city centre while the east side is literally situated in the Beatrix Park.
Characteristic of the urban design by Danish Henning Larsens are the organic footprints. This visual language allows for the park to find continuation around the buildings and to be visible and palpable from the Beethoven Street. The flowing lines of the romantic, classic English garden like Beatrixpark, find continuation in the architectural appearance.
Commissioned by Synchroon, Orange Architects has designed an all-in-one school and 190 apartments on the site of the existing SITA office on Heathrowstraat in Amsterdam. The project, Called Floating Gardens, made with the city of Amsterdam, proposes an integral development with a school in the plinth and 190 apartments above.
The area around Sloterdijk station is rapidly transforming from an office district into a mixed-use residential and office district. Sloterdijk Centre will form the heart of a large-scale area development called Haven-Stad.
Advisors: IMd BV, Merosch, M+P, IGG bouweconomie, BK ingenieurs
Team: Patrick Meijers, Jeroen Schipper, Gloria Caiti, Kapilan Chandranesan, Adriano Cirigliano, Casper van Leeuwen, Manuel Magnaguagno, Francesco Mainetti, Erika Ruiz, Elena Staskute, Florentine van der Vaart, Angela Park, Eric Eisma
Arriving in Delft is an unforgettable experience. From the outset, Mecanoo’s idea was to design a station that makes it clear to visitors that they have arrived in Delft. The station, in combination with the new city hall, sits atop a new train tunnel built in place of the old concrete viaduct that divided the city in two since 1965. Coming up the escalators, the impressive ceiling with the historic map of Delft unfolds. When you look outside, you see the city and the old station as a contemporary version of Johannes Vermeer’s painting ‘View of Delft’.
KAAN Architecten has designed “CUBE”, the new Education and Self Study Center at Tilburg University (Netherlands). This compact and ostensibly low structure blends into its surrounding green landscape and into the larger architectural ensemble of the Dutch educational campus, which includes the quintessential Cobbenhagen building of the Catholic College of Economics, constructed back in the Sixties.
Project Team: Allard Assies, Dennis Bruijn, Timo Cardol, Sebastian van Damme, Michael Geensen, Alejandro Gonzáles Pérez, Marlon Jonkers, Rense Kerkvliet, Martina Margini, Kevin Park, Roland Reemaa, Maria Stamati, Yiannis Tsoskounoglou, Noëmi Vos, Yang Zhang
Main Contractor: VORM Bouw, Papendrecht (Netherlands)
Project Management: VORM Ontwikkeling, Papendrecht (Netherlands)
With origins as a highway-centric motel chain for travelers by automobile; Van der Valk is an international company, whose roots are Dutch, and whose hotels are almost always sited adjacent to highways, providing standard lodging and dining for those traveling long distances by car. Seeking to reposition itself in the Dutch market, while spurring a renewal of its image; the chain, long known for its hotels sited in-between major Dutch cities, will add a new location to their portfolio of properties, with a 26.000 m2 hotel in Amsterdam. Situated along the southern edge of the ring highway that encircles the city–the A10–the new hotel encompasses circa 240 rooms, several cafés and restaurants, a meeting center, congress hall, spa and wellness center, and a plethora of terraces offering views out over Amsterdam. Because the hotel is steps away from the city’s convention center–between the business district and ‘Old South’ neighborhood of the city, constructed just before the 1929 Olympic Games–the hotel is connected to the city through numerous bus, metro, and tram lines. The nearby train station, will also allow guests to easily explore the Netherlands, beyond Amsterdam. Standing at a height of 55 m, the hotel has 15 floors, which, in a nod to its storied motel history, positions it in prominent view of those driving on the adjacent highway.
The design of the municipality community house ‘Het Klavier’ by M+R
“Noord-Brabant has around 400 community houses. They stand in villages and cities and are of great social importance for the liveability of a community. No community house is the same. They come in all shapes and sizes; not only offer relaxation, but are also meeting places, cultural temples or educational institutes “. For our office the challenge was / is how we can shape the house of the municipality of Loon op Zand. For each task we first look for the identity of the users; the municipalities and their residents or what is the DNA of the municipality of Loon op Zand.
i29 interior architects designed a pavilion for the dutch magazine Eigen Huis & Interieur during the annual design fair in RAI Amsterdam. With an architectural installation i29 strived to make a spatial experience for the visitors that surprises; an environment that should be discovered step by step.
The ‘house’ has been reduced to the essence; open and closed surfaces, walls and volumes, sight lines. Contrast in color and specular surfaces are playing with the perception of space. Mirrored volumes are hiding display cases which include compressed worlds which refer to living. The contrast between the ‘emptiness’ of the pavilion itself and the richly decorated display cases reinforce each other. The powerful simplicity of the pavilion makes it a place for contemplation amidst the abundance of products at the fair.