The project is named the Kraanspoor (crane track in Dutch) for its site: the top of a crane track built in the 1950’s for unloading cargo ships. It is 270 meters long (almost 900 feet), 13.5 meters high and 8.7 meters wide and stands in the water just off the edge of a pier. Trude Hooykaas’ idea was to re-use the platform as a base for a long, sleek, and lightweight elevated office building. In 2007, the project was completed with financing by ING Real Estate.
The location and the use of the crane track make it an extraordinary project – visually dramatic both by day and particularly by night, when the glass facade is illuminated. It makes a strong contribution to the Amsterdam waterfront, skillfully building upon the industrial heritage of the area with an adaptive re-use that’s entirely forward-looking, both in both visuals and technical substance. The louvered double glazing system and a heating and cooling system that uses the water of the IJ for heat exchange are among its more progressive design features. It has a complex posture toward the environment, all at once projecting high-tech minimalism, environmental consciousness, a respect for historic context, and a crazy neo-archigram aesthetic (it’s a long skinny organism on legs that drinks up river water to heat and cool itself).
Take a look at the links below for a more detailed project description with exterior and interior photos:
A site plan and some great pictures showing site pre-conditions can be found here: (scroll down to view) http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=539382&page=7
The history of how the project came about is also noteworthy. The built portfolio of OTH, lead by architect Trude Hooykaas, consists primarily of installations and interiors work. The Kraanspoor project happened not because Hooykaas was the Dutch real estate industry’s go-to architect for long skinny office buildings on crane tracks; it happened because the project was her idea. She initially pitched the plan to the local municipality in 1997 and after a lot of feasibility study and negotiation, the building was realized by private developers who chose to participate in her admittedly good the idea. The process took ten years, but produced an extraordinary result.
Kraanspoor’s project narrative is not an exception in the Netherlands – recent architectural successes at the IJburg and Javaeiland developments are also attributable to an architect’s early and important role as instigator of a project. In the Netherlands, parties in government and finance demonstrate a robust appreciation for the idea that good design can yield economic returns over the longer term, and often get architects involved a lot sooner.
While the established model of client as instigator and architect as service provider will always be far more prevalent, the Kraanspoor project is an encouraging reminder that if an architect has an exceptional idea of their own, they can get it built. A tangible vision, like the one Trude Hooykaas furnished for the Kraanspoor project, captures the popular imagination and becomes leverage to hold planners and developers accountable to a higher standard for urban space. With perseverance and savvy, the architect’s good idea inverts the norm.
Kraanspoor’s project narrative is not an exception in the Netherlands – recent architectural successes at the IJburg and Javaeiland developments are also attributable to an architect’s early and important role as instigator of a project. In the Netherlands, parties in government and finance demonstrate a robust appreciation for the idea that good design can yield economic returns over the longer term, and often get architects involved a lot sooner.
While the established model of client as instigator and architect as service provider will always be far more prevalent, the Kraanspoor project is an encouraging reminder that if an architect has an exceptional idea of their own, they can get it built. A tangible vision, like the one Trude Hooykaas furnished for the Kraanspoor project, captures the popular imagination and becomes leverage to hold planners and developers accountable to a higher standard for urban space. With perseverance and savvy, the architect’s good idea inverts the norm.
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