Sarphatistraat Offices Amsterdam architect, Steven Holl Netherlands building design images

Sarphatistraat Offices Amsterdam

Housing Corporation Het Ooste, Holland design by Steven Holl Architects, New York City, USA.

post updated 21 December 2024

Housing Corporation Het Oosten, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Date built: 1996-99
Design: Steven Holl Architects

Location: just south of city centre

Sarphatistraat Offices Amsterdam

photograph © Adrian Welch

Sarphatistraat Offices

This is not one of the major buildings by Steven Holl but at the time of writing the only one in the Netherlands. The architect’s main building to date in Europe is Kiasma, in Helsinki.

Steven Holl architect, USA

In Amsterdam, on the Singel Gracht, the renovated building is a four-story brick “U” merging internally with a new “sponge” pavilion. While the exterior expression is one of complimentary contrast (existing brick adjacent to new perforated copper) the interior strategy is one of fusion. The porous architecture of the rectangular pavilion is inscribed with a concept from Morton Feldman’s music, “Patterns in a Chromatic Field.”

photos © Adrian Welch

The ambition to achieve a space of gossamer optic phenomena with chance-located color is especially effective at night when the color patches reflect in the De Single Canal. The layers of perforated screens are developed in three dimensions, analogous to the “Menger Sponge” principle of openings that are continuously cut in planes and constantly approaching zero volume.

Sarphatistraat Offices Amsterdam – Building Information

PROGRAM: new headquarters for housing developer
CLIENT: Woningbouwvereniging Het Oosten
SIZE: ADDITION & RENOVATION: 3,500 & 50,000 sq ft
STATUS: complete

source: Sarphatistraat Offices Amsterdam by Steven Holl Architects

Location: Het Oosten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, western Europe