MVRDV has completed the renovation and transformation of Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck's Tripolis Office complex in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. 

Named Tripolis Park, the project was one of the last projects completed by the celebrated Dutch modernist architect Aldo van Eyck. 

In accordance with Van Eyck's original plans, MVRDV restored two of the three listed heritage buildings on behalf of developer Flow. 

Additionally, a 12-story "landscraper" was erected along the site's perimeter to protect the complex—which also houses Van Eyck's Amsterdam Orphanage next door—from the dust and noise produced by the nearby A10 highway.

In order to create an exciting in-between space where the two meet, the new building carefully maintains a respectful distance from the heritage buildings. Bridges span overhead to connect the old and the new.

Tripolis, three unique office buildings measuring 11,000, 8,000, and 6,000 square meters, was built in close proximity to Van Eyck's masterpiece, the Amsterdam Orphanage.

One of the most significant structures of the Structuralist movement, the orphanage was finished in 1960, but by 1986 it was already in danger of being demolished. 

After a successful global effort to save the orphanage, the Amsterdam municipality offered the developer the nearby land, but only if Aldo and Hannie van Eyck designed the new office complex. After their new design was finished in 1994, Tripolis started serving as the orphanage's symbolic savior.

The design of MVRDV represents the next development in this history. The original Tripolis remained vacant for years due to its lack of commercial success. 

In the meantime, there was a threat of more noise and pollution due to the impending expansion of the nearby A10 highway, which would include a new on-ramp directly next to the Tripolis site.

In turn, the Tripolis buildings required an intervention to ensure their future, much like the orphanage in the 1980s. 

After conducting archival research and working closely with Van Eyck's heirs, MVRDV's design has brought the buildings' façades back to Van Eyck's original designs, which is an improvement over their original state. 

For instance, in contrast to the less expensive wood and granite combination that the Tripolis developer had demanded in the 1990s, the façades are now entirely covered in wood. Additionally preserved are the building's multicolored window frames.

The renovation preserves the buildings' interior features, like the staircases and the natural stone floors, but it also updates the structures to meet contemporary standards, which increasingly view offices as places for gathering and teamwork. 

The building is now less divided thanks to the removal of dividing walls, and it is more sustainable thanks to a number of interventions.

With greenery and pavilions that facilitate interaction among all complex users and can be utilized for events, the roofs are now utilized more frequently. Additionally, solar panels are added, which aids in the development's BREEAM Outstanding sustainability certification.

According to the firm, the project is more than just a renovation; on the edge of the plot, a 12-story skyscraper called "The Window" is positioned as close to the A10 as feasible to create a barrier between the highway and the remainder of the property. 

To draw attention to the project's heritage features, a sizable rectangular window overlooking the original Tripolis complex has been cut out of the 34,000-square-meter office building's gridded south façade. 

The northern façade, which is indented by an "echo" of the intricate shapes of the Tripolis buildings, reacts playful to them on the opposite side of the structure. 

With bridges connecting the old and new buildings, this intervention creates an exciting, low-noise intermediate space with an undulating interior.

"Demolition of heritage is always the easy option, especially if it is located in a business district dominated by high-rise buildings," said MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. 

"Tripolis Park offers an approach to protecting heritage that at the same time meets people’s expectations for an office today. It combines this with new densification, a continuation of the development at Amsterdam Zuidas, that doesn’t copy Van Eyck’s intention, but creates a new one, like a new layer in time." 

"And it celebrates the in-between which, as Aldo explained to me when I was a student, is one of the main sources of beauty in architecture," Maas added.

The fact that Tripolis Park has drawn two prestigious tenants—Uber and the law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek—demonstrates how Van Eyck's monument has been re-established in the contemporary office rental market. 

The third of the original Tripolis buildings will be completed in the upcoming years. 

The site's greening will continue, creating a park-like campus where Aldo van Eyck's buildings, both from 1960 and 1994, are protected and conserved. It will be conveniently accessible by foot and bicycle from the other Zuidas and the adjacent metro station.

Floor plan

Floor plan

Floor plan

Floor plan

Elevation

MVRDV released the first details of design for Tripolis Park in 2020. In addition, the firm transformed a former German military base from the Second World War into a residential and cultural community in the Netherlands. Moreover, the firm revealed the design for a new office building in Munich, the building's facade is covered in recycled plastic shingles. 

Project facts

Project name: Tripolis Park

Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Year: 2018–2023

Client: Flow Development

Size and Programme: 61,000m2 Offices, Public amenities 

Sustainability certification: BREEAM-NL-Outstanding

Architect: MVRDV

Founding Partner in charge: Winy Maas

Director: Gideon Maasland

Associate Design Director: Gijs Rikken

Project Leader: Rik Lambers, Bob de Rijk

Design Team: Steven Anton, Roxana Aron, Guido Boeters, Teodora Cirjan, Joao Viaro Correa, Guillermo Corella Dekker, Karolina Duda, Cas Esbach, Valentina Fantini, Rico van de Gevel, Piotr Janus, Nika Koraca, Urszula Kuczma, Claudia Mainardi, Sanne van Manen, Rugile Ropolaite, Irgen Salianji, Maxime Sauce, Claudia Storelli, Karolina Szóstkiewicz, Laurens Veth, Olesya Vodenicharska, Mark van Wasbeek, Mariya Badeva, Rebecca Fiorentino, Nefeli Stamatari, Michele Tavola, Aleksandra Wypiór

Visualisations: Antonio Luca Coco, Luca Piattelli, Kirill Emelianov, Pavlos Ventouris, Francesco Vitale

Partners

Co-architect: Powered by EGM

Contractor: G&S Bouw

Project coordination: Toussaint Project Management 

Landscape architect: Deltavormgroep

Structural engineer: Van Rossum Raadgevende Ingenieurs 

Installations consultancy: Arcadis

MEP: Bosman Bedrijven

Cost calculation: BBN

Building Physics & Environmental Advisor: DGMR 

Interior architect: Concrete

All images © Ossip van Duivenbode.

All drawings © MVRDV.

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Amsterdam MVRDV renovation transformation