Project Description
Amvest, a sustainably-minded Dutch real estate investment and development firm, has begun moving into its new headquarters designed by New York-based Rietveld Architects in Cruquius Eiland, a century-old industrial wharf situated in Amsterdam’s eastern harbor. The company is spearheading the transformation of this derelict district into a mixed-use neighborhood with abundant green space and ample underground parking. Its headquarters is the project’s third completed building. One of the first firms commissioned by Amvest to help in the redevelopment of this former industrial zone, Rietveld Architects has also designed, in collaboration with the Hague-based firm Geurst en Schulze, two 40-unit apartment buildings, consisting of condominiums and rentals, now in the final stages of completion. A radical rethink of the very givens of a workplace, Amvest’s new headquarters demonstrates that it takes a forward-looking client, as well as an innovative architect, to produce a directional design. Amvest’s headquarters cantilevers some 52 feet over the harbor, providing the new development with a striking architectural silhouette to serve as its landmark, while also affording its staff spectacular Entrepothaven views. To encourage interaction among Amvest’s various departments, everyone at the company sits on one level, a soaring double-height space. Another distinctive building feature is the unusual elevator, which doubles as the entry lobby, replete with furniture, plants, and art. When visitors arrive for a meeting, the elevator slowly conveys them from the garage or main entry up to the reception area, entertaining them along the way with enthralling views. Also of note are the emergency staircases. With Professor Peter van de Leur, the foremost expert on fire prevention, Rietveld Architects transformed the typically concealed escape stairs into two wide, intertwining open stairs that serve as an integral part of the interior architecture, linking all the levels for quick routine access. Each stair is separated by a quadruple layer of clear, fire-rated glass framed in an Invar steel structure. The building’s most inventive structural feature may be the suspension of the floor of the second level from the roof of the building by solid steel façade stiles. This engineering feat is the slight of hand behind the seemingly unsupported glazed walls of the facade. An arboreal motif distinguishes the building’s two pairs of structural columns, which resemble trees, their “branches” supporting the roof, and is further expressed in the fritted leaf canopy design of the elevator glazing. Natural light infuses every corner of the offices. In addition to a glazed façade, the building’s walls, elevator shaft, and elevator ceiling are crafted from glass. With Professor Ulrich Knaack, the foremost innovative façade expert, Rietveld Architects conceived the chain mail curtains between the double-layer facade to modulate direct sunlight and regulate internal temperature. In addition to filtering light, the climate façade cools through the natural flow of air. With five glazed exposures, comprising of a skylight and the four façades, the building’s core is lantern-like in its luminosity, a scheme which enables daylight to penetrate all the way into the basement garage. Interior design by Caroline Roos and photographs by Chiel de Nooyer.