Sluishuis has what it takes to become the newest selfie attraction
When the municipality issued a tender for Sluishuis at the entrance to IJburg in 2016, the aim was not to maximize profit, but to build a high-quality building. Something special, something that stays on your retina. This cube was drawn on the first maps of IJburg, like a thundercloud on the horizon. The designers did not get much further than a square for a long time. The Sluishuis remained a utopia, a dream.
Until the Danish architectural firm BIG and its Dutch counterpart Barcode came up with the egg of Columbus: an open-work cube. This makes the square less monolithic. They won the tender with it. Only: how could this be produced constructively? At construction and development company Vorm, an employee came up with the bright idea to use the spine of a dinosaur as a source of inspiration. Due to its elongated back, the dinosaur was able to raise its head.
A kind of shark’s mouth
The core of the BIG/Barcode Sluishuis is in fact a double cantilever, a projecting part of the building that is reinforced by extremely long concrete piles sunk into the bottom of the IJmeer. The double cantilevers meet in the corner, creating a kind of shark’s beak. Another clever example: Sluishuis stands on an artificial island with its legs invisible in the water. And a parking garage has also been squeezed between those legs.
Not only was there daring in a constructive way, but also aesthetically a top performance was delivered. In today’s jargon, the term is iconic, now as empty and flat as the sole of a shoe. Iconic is charged because it represents a kind of architecture in which it is only about the form and the exterior. When striving for circularity and sustainability, an icon is simply suspicious. Sluishuis is an example of supreme energy neutrality with heat and cold storage, heat pumps, LED lighting and 2,200 square meters of solar panels. Russians offside.
Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe
Every reason to celebrate with the contractor, the developer and the architects upon completion, because Sluishuis is there. And how: to make the building sparkle and sparkle in the summer sun with a facade cladding with aluminum sheets. The builders won by presenting symbolic buildings such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. original, of course they trotted on. But they are not completely unequal.
Sluishuis has what it takes to become the newest selfie attraction, the place you must visit in the Netherlands. This is due to the cantilever, the two tilting wings that touch each other above the water, but also because of the graphic pattern of the balconies in a tight rhythm over the facade. One concern: as soon as a resident parks his hammock or lounger there, the image shatters. Some balconies are already furnished in a student-like manner. It wouldn’t edit me if the users signed agreements.
Does an icon also have content? That surprises. The apartments are not only affordable – 1350 euros 80 square meters – but also well laid out. A spacious bathroom and a storage room where the storage room is located: don’t miss that in the primary new construction. It is not even surprising that men have an overwhelming view everywhere, over Durgerdam, IJburg itself or the Rembrandt Tower in the distance. You can expect that in this horizon-loving part of Amsterdam.
Modern cloister
And it’s not finished yet. Two staircases lead from the ground floor to the tenth floor where they reach a gallery that surrounds the cube like a modern and open cloister. Those stairs and they can be public space. The terraces are lined with red cedar on either side of the stairs. The wooden flower boxes and the stairs where the concrete has been milled in such a way that strips are superfluous: it is these kinds of details that make Sluishuis more than the sum of its parts.
The docking dock is for residents wishing to dock to drop off themselves and their guests. Houseboats will be moored at the entrances in front of the complex. You might think that’s a shame, because Sluishuis has so many divan features that it prefers to shine in its state. After all, an Eiffel Tower has no bystanders.
Anyway: after twenty years, IJburg finally has the striking entrance it has been waiting for. And the Sluishuis residents must hope that the stairs and the inner courtyard with the harbor will not be crowded.