Houtsma Loods
Amsterdam
FARO Architecten

Material choice responds to a unique site

	Index | Project Specs
	Click here for slide show. Photo © Roos Aldershoff

Houtsma Loods contains a mixture of newly built offices for a century-old Dutch firm, an existing office building, and 12 student flats. One side of the complex faces a narrow city street, with a mixture of facade styles and building widths, while the other faces the Nieuwe Vaart waterway, lined with old wharves. FARO Architecten expressed this varied context within the complex’s design by positioning the two completely different program elements on the two extremes of the site: housing on the street side, offices on the water side.

The materials used and their construction are strongly linked. The building has a seemingly unfinished, raw exterior—something that befits its immediate surroundings. The facade of the office volume is composed entirely of Cor-ten steel, partly perforated and folded to mimic timber boards, combined with a frameless green glass curtainwall. These materials, as well as a set of large sliding doors, are a nod to the old docks with their sheds and ships.

Inside, the designers finished the space with a slightly metallic atmosphere. An element they dubbed the “sliver,” a curtain made of long thin acrylic slices, divides the floor plate in half. Open-plan seating and a lack of interior columns provide the client with maximum flexibility to reconfigure the space as necessary. Cabinet units, made of rubber, function as storage and shelves—they also provide camouflage for wiring, heating elements, and act as acoustical buffers. Skylights in the roof allow daylight to permeate the entire space.

Formal name of project:
Houtsma Loods

Location:
Amsterdam

Gross square footage:
7,000 sq. ft. (office portion only)

Total Construction Cost:
$5 million

Owner:
De Principaal; Woonstichting de Key

Architect:
FARO Architecten
Lisserweg 487d
2165 AS Lisserbroek
The Netherlands
31-252-41-47-77 tel.
31-252-41-58-12 fax
www.faro-architecten.nl

Team photo

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