News - 2011
Highest point Rotterdam CS
Wednesday 23 November. The building construction of the new Rotterdam Central Station has reached its highest point. The highest tip of the new station hall reaches up to 30 meters. The construction of the steel structure started last March. The roof is built up from eight main parts and contains over 3.000 tons of steel. The new passenger throughway will be put in use in the summer of 2012. The whole project is projected to be ready 2013.
read more about Rotterdam Central Station
New Babylon wins at Cobouw Awards
Tower 2 of the project New Babylon in the Hague was unanimously voted Best Housing Project in the category building projects for the Cobouw Award 2011.
The developers, Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten and the builders were praised for their courage: ‘This project adds something to the city of The Hague and addresses the question how cities can deal with upgrading the locations around train stations”. The jury has praise for the courage to redevelop a building complex which “was clearly at the end of its life cycle” and that can be described as “one which was clearly not the easiest.” As for logistics, building technical aspects and originality the project scored best according to the jury.
Client: Fortress in collaboration with SNS Property Finance BV
Builder: Bouwcombinatie New Babylon
Official opening of Traverse Hilversum
The Traverse Hilvesum Noord was opened officially last Thursday. The ceremonial act was performed by representatives of the City of Hilversum, ProRail, TCN Mediapark and the Province Noord-Holland. Together they revealed the name for the new passageway between Hilversum-North, the train station and the Media Park. Via de Kijkbuis – Via the (television)Tube. (The editorial staff of the Gooi- en Eemlander had held a open competition among its readers to think of the most catchy name for the traverse.) The name is placed, in correspondence to the location of Mediapark -the broadcasting centre of the Netherlands- on the image of a television test card.
The traverse was realised by MVSA in collaboration with Strukton Infratechnieken.
MVSA wins bid for renovation ASR-building
MVSA will design the renovation of the ASR-office building in Utrecht. ASR is one of the largest insurance companies in the Netherlands. From four architectural firms competing in the design bid, MVSA’s concept was chosen unanimously by ASR’s board of directors as the scheme most fitting to the needs of ASR . The original building dates from 1974 and was built for AMEV (a predecessor company of ASR). The renovation will ensure the new design of the office building to be compliant with the latest standards for working environments and sustainability.
Several characteristic features of the building will be kept, but also much will change. The heavy and closed off concrete walls will be replaced by glass façades to increase daylight in the building and providing greater transparency of the office floors. These will be setup according to the standard of the ‘Nieuwe Generatie Werken’ (the New Generation of Working) and will accommodate 2800 work spaces for the 4000 employees. Energy use will be reduced by more than 30% through new technology and installations. The ASR-building is one of the largest office structures in the Netherlands, measuring 84.000 m².
The renovation is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2015.
MVSA and ARCADIS win bid for Bleizo
MVSA and ARCADIS have won the bid for the new transit hub ‘Laan op Bleizo’ on the line between Bleiswijk and Zoetermeer. The transit hub encompasses a NS railway station and a station for the Oosterheem-line and is placed above the A12 motorway. The bridge is designed as a passageway over this road and the railway tracks, acting as a traverse and public square in one for pedestrians and cyclists.
The design of Bleizo is characterized by the use of lots of green and planting, and pays special attention to sustainability. The project is set up in a modular way to ensure that no matter what the phase of construction is the transit hub will function optimally. Bleizo fits like a glove in its surroundings, and will adapt to the future developments of the area, making it an ultimately future-orientated design.
The ecological value of the area has been given very high priority as can be seen in the numerous sustainable elements in the plan. As much as possible use will be made of materials which are sustainable and easily available.
Lock 124 winner at Concrete Awards
At the ceremony of the 2011 Concrete Awards, on November 16th, Lock 124 in Amsterdam IJburg was announced winner in the category ‘Constructions in Water Works’.
Quote from the jury report:
‘Lock doors of steel or wood are common, but never have we seen them made out of concrete. In short, Lock 124 shows to be a fine example of innovation technology that sheds new light on the use of concrete. It’s a well thought-out combination of technology and functionality resulting in a very durable application. Therefore the implementation can be seen as a pilot project which will no doubt be copied in the future.’
client: Project Bureau IJburg / architect: MVSA / construction: IBA / contractor: Schuurmans Betonbouw / supplier doors: Haitsma Beton
Lock IJburg nominated for Concrete Award '11
The new Lock 0124 in on the eastern end of the new urban development of IJburg, Amsterdam has been nominated for the Concrete Award 2011. Out of 98 entries 17 projects have been nominated in six categories.
Lock 0124 employs concrete lock doors, a world premiere innovation in its field and has been nominated in the category Construction in Water Works. The winners will be announced at the prize-giving ceremony on November 16th. Lock 0124 is a collaboration project with IBA (Engineering Department of the City of Amsterdam)
Setting up of tree marks the construction start SOZAWE
A roaring start for the construction of the new building for SOZAWE (department of Social Services and Employment.) On the 8th of September the first tree was planted on the SOZAWE site at the Europapark business park. A unique occasion according to Maarten Volbeda of the BAM, never previously having planted a tree for such an event.
About 80 people witnessed how alderman Elly Pastoor climbed in the crane. Together with representatives of the future users of the new building and the contractor and architects she placed the tree in the dugout hole. This marked the official start for the construction of SOZAWE. The construction is planned to be completed by the end of 2013.
Lock IJburg in use
Lock 124 in the new housing project IJburg, Amsterdam, is in use since. It’s the world premier for a lock with concrete doors. The project is a collaboration between MVSA and IBA (the Engineering Department of the City of Amsterdam). MVSA made the architectural design. IBA was responsible for the engineering.
Traditionally lock doors are made out of steel or wood. The great advantage of concrete are the lower costs in building and maintenance. The doors are 10 cm thick, more than 6 meters long and weigh about 14 tons each. The lock is operated remotely; a motor boat user can press a button at the lock to request passage. The lock connects IJburg with the lake IJmeer.
The first parts of Traverse Hilversum put into place
During the night of the 8th of May the first sections of the new Traverse Hilversum-Noord were hoisted into place. It concerned the part that spans from the Studio building (Media Park) to the Station Hilversum-Noord above the Mies Bouwman Boulevard , a length of approximately 71 metres in total. Train and car traffic was stopped during the night for the hoist.
The Traverse was delivered using special transportation from the preconstruction site along the Mies Bouwman Boulevard and hoisting begun at 1.30 am. Two heavy cranes were used to lift the sections into place and support the traverse whist the permanent connections were made to the supporting pylons. The first section measuring 40 metres in length and weighing 65 tons was placed above the railway line. The second section that spans over the street is 31 meters long and weighs 50 tons, connects directly to the first section of the Traverse and a pylon near the studio building. This section was lifted into place at 3.00 am with the colour LED lighting in operation.
In the coming weeks the remaining 80 metres above the studio building will be hoisted into place. The Traverse will realise a new pedestrian connection between the Station Hilversum-Noord and the Media Park and is scheduled to be completed before the end of June.
Highest point New Babylon
This Friday, ms. W. van der Hoek, The Hague’s director of the Department of Urban Development, will perform an official act to commemorate that New Babylon has reached its highest point. The act will start at 4 p.m. with a live registration of the ascending of the 44 floor high City Tower, and the epic moment of placing a commemoration plaque on the tower’s roof.
Babylon Den Haag en Building Combination New Babylon started the metamorphosis of the old Babylon in May 2007. The New Babylon is the highest residential tower (142m) of The Hague and will offer apartments (335), hypermodern offices, a new shopping center, fitness, hotel, restaurants and bars. The project was designed by MVSA and was inspired by the concept of ‘a New City in the City’ – a 24-hour urban living area with all the possible functions en services concerning living, working, shopping and recreation. The project is situated in the city’s center, right next to The Hague Central Station, and therefore fits into MVSA’s ideas on sustainability through high density and connectivity.
The official opening of the shopping center is planned for September 2012
Construction for Deloitte reaches highest point
On Thursday September 29th the Construction the new office premises for Deloitte in Papendorp, Utrecht, reached its highest point, 30 meters. The occasion was celebrated by representatives of the user, Deloitte, developer Volker Wessels and builder Wessels Zeist and MVSA. The construction started in February of this year and will be finished in May 2012. The building will measure 8000m² and have the Greencalc A label.
Ministry of Finance winner PPP Awards
The renovation of the Ministry of Finance became the overall winner of the Dutch PPP Awards 2011. The Award is the prize for the best project with a collaboration between the public and private sector. The project was one of the 19 contenders for the prize.
The jury judged the project to be a brake-through. “It's a successful reuse of an existing building. The architecture is beautiful, without denying what was already there. The building has been opened up towards the city, making it lively on a spot which formerly was a quiet and dull area”.
Besides the overall prize there were also prizes for the best financial, legal and technical team. The MVSA project Kromhout Kazerne was awarded to be the best technical team.
PPP renovation Ministry of Finance. Client Safire bv. Design MVSA.
PPP Kromhout Kazerne. Client Komfort bv. Design MVSA, Karres en Brands landschapsarchitecten, architectenbureau Fritz.
Traverse Hilversum in use for travelers
The Rail Traverse Hilversum was put into use for the public on July 29th. The official opening of the Traverse will be on September 15th.