The Crystal House store
project by MVRDV architecture began through a request of Warenar to design the
new Chanel flagship store located on the PC Hoofstraat in Amsterdam, combining
both international architecture and Dutch heritage. The store is of course
located on the only luxury brand street in Amsterdam, previously being
primarily residential.
The firm wanted to represent
the original building found on site, preserving the street elevation, through
an innovative and extensive use of glass.
The original design of the
façade is mimicked by a near full-glass brick layer all the way to the details
of brick layers, window frames and positioning, yet it stretched vertically to
conform with the new zoning laws of the city and also provide a larger interior
space.
Crystal House’s glass brick façade
stretches upwards eventually breaking up and mixing with the traditional
terracotta brick façade of the apartments [complying with the City’s rules of
aesthetics], thus providing the effect that the top floor of the building is
floating above the shop floor.
This design aspires to present a solution to the
local character loss of shopping districts globally; as globalization of retail
tends towards the homogenization of luxury brand shopping streets.
Finally, the new store design offers a needed
contemporary window surface whilst sustaining the architectural individuality
and character. The result is a flagship store that hopes to stand prominent
among other stores.
“We said to
the client, ‘Let’s bring back what will be demolished but develop it further’”
explains Winy Maas, architect and co-founder of MVRDV. “Crystal Houses make
space for a remarkable flagship store, respect the structure of the
surroundings and bring a poetic innovation in glass construction. It enables
global brands to combine the overwhelming desire of transparency with a couleur
locale and modernity with heritage. It can thus be applied everywhere in our
historic centres.” (MVRDV, 2016)
Once the
initial idea was conceived, MVRDV went on to work with many partners in order
to develop the technologies to make the project a reality. The solid glass
bricks were cast and crafted individually by Poesia in Resana [close to
Venice]. Further research was handed to Delft University of Technology who
partnered up with ABT engineering firm and contractor Wessels Zeist. This
partnership provided the development of fabrication techniques and structural
solutions. A high-strength, transparent, UV-bonded adhesive was created to ‘cement’
the glass bricks together by Delo Industrial Adhersices [located in Germany] to
avoid the use of traditional mortar.
The construction
site resembled a laboratory during the construction process with about 6-10
specialists working daily for a year in place. Due to the delicacy of the
materials, high accuracy and expert craftsmanship was demanded, thus the
technical team remained on site throughout the entire process. This was a
prototype construction, therefore, new tools and construction methods had to be
developed such as laboratory grade UV-lamps, high-tech lasers, even ‘lower-tech’
full-fat Dutch milk was utilized as it proved to be the ideal liquid with its
transparency to function as a reflective surface for the first brick layer
leveling. In spite of the sensitive appearance the Delft University of
Technology team ran all strength tests and proved that glass-constructions such
as this is much stronger than concrete. For example: the full glass architrave
is able to endure a force up to 42,000 Newton [that is two large SUVs].
The new construction methods
developed on this project created new opportunities for future building, i.e.
minimization of waste materials. In fact all of the glass materials used are
recyclable. Additionally, waste materials [imperfect glass bricks] were either
melted down and repurposed or re-molded. Finally, once the building itself
[especially the façade] has reached the end of its life span, the entire façade
can be dismantled and melted down to be used again. However, the only exception
on this plan is the added security elements of the façade, i.e. the concrete
ram-raid plinth, masked by the translucent and reflective materials to
reinforce the structure and allow the building to withstand the force of a car
crush. In the event of any damage a repair-protocol was developed for the
replacement of individual bricks.
Renewable sources were
selected to meet the energy requirements needed with the nearly all glass façade.
For this reason the building is designed around a heat pump of the ground with
pipes running as deep as 170m underground achieving optimal indoor climate
year-round. This was a critical element in the project as it deals with
sophisticated and delicate detailing while simultaneously perusing the right
energy balance.
Design Team:
Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries with Gijs Walker, Mick van Gemert, Marco Gazzola, Renske van der Stoep and Luca Antonio Coco
Co-Architect:
Watering Mans & Van Dijk Wim watering Mans, Arjan Bakker, Tuğrul Avuçlu
Manufacturer glass bricks:
Poem (brand of glassware Resanese) Ivano Massarotto
Importer of Delo glue:
Siko: Rob Janssen
Contractor:
Wessels Zeist: Robert van der Hoeven, Richard of Ende, Marco and Ronald Of Dolls
Constructor:
Brouwer&Kok: Paul Brouwer
ABT: Rob Nijsse
Research:
Delft University of Technology: Frederic A. Veer, Faidra Oikonomopoulou, Telesilla Bristogianni
Municipality aesthetics
commission:
Wealth: Charlotte ten Dijke, Ellis van den Hoek, Natasha Hogen, Patrick Koschuch, Alexander Pols, Gus Tielens, Marcel van Winsen, Pippin Diepenveen
Visualisations:
SOIL
Movie:
Crystal Houses the movie was created by Robert
Jan Westdijk for Warenar Real Estate with the help of people and companies
involved in creating Crystal Houses.
