Dutch architecture firm MVRDV has revived a 19th-century listed building for electric car manufacturer company NIO with colors and a rooftop pavilion of the top of the building.

Named NIO House Amsterdam, the 2,700-square-metre building consists of a car showroom, a café, an office, a kids playground, a gallery, event spaces, a lounge.

Developed for an electric car manufacturer NIO's flagship location in Europe, the seven-storey building is situated on Amsterdam’s Keizersgracht originally built in the late 19th century.

The design combines design elements from the NIO’s brand with a respectful treatment of the historic building. Employees and visitors are welcomed by a wide variety of spaces for relaxing, working, events, and exhibitions. 

Inspired by NIO’s "blue sky coming" slogan, the building’s floors form a colour gradient - made up of earthy colours on the lower floors, and an airy blue that fills the building’s modernist rooftop pavilion.

"The building has a storied history: designed by Jan van Looy, when it was built in 1891 for the New York Life Insurance Company it was among the tallest private buildings in Amsterdam" said MVRDV. 

"For the majority of the 20th century, it was home to the Metz & Co department store and in 1933 was extended by a steel and glass rooftop pavilion designed by Gerrit Rietveld, arguably the most important Dutch architect of the modernist movement."

"Despite this heritage, in 2013 it became home to an Abercrombie & Fitch store; as a consequence, the upper floors including the Rietveld pavilion were closed to the public, and many of the original interior details were covered up," the office added.

According to the firm, the building is not just a typical car showroom, but it presents itself as a public building offering a variety of functions that contribute to the neighbourhood that hosts it. 

A café with a soft yellow kids’ corner is located above the car showcase on the ground floor. 

A gathering space, called Home To The Forum, is placed on the second floor, and provides space to local businesses and event organizations that can be used for workshops, presentations, and small-scale lectures, alongside a “Joy Camp” where children can entertain themselves. 

Co-working spaces are arranged on the third floor and they can be booked and used by the public. In addition, the fourth space is home to an art and design gallery that can equally be used to show NIO products or as a platform for local artists to showcase their work. 

Finally – above a fifth floor reserved for NIO’s own offices – are event spaces in the sixth floor and the rooftop pavilion.

In MVRDV’s design the staircase, the design takes cues from the historic details, and becomes a central element of the design. The design is always visible from the main spaces on each floor to help orient visitors. 

Throughout the project, the space is opened up as much as possible to create a light and airy environment. This is achieved by removing internal walls, raising ceilings, and emphasizing vertical connections, such as the atrium that links the ground floor with the café.

"The exciting challenge of this project was in unifying the history of this building with the identity of NIO, a company which in many senses is interested in offering a vision of the future," said MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs. 

"In a sense, we are confronting the same challenge that Rietveld resolved so gracefully 90 years ago. NIO House Amsterdam shows how the old and the new can provide a counterpoint for one another and ultimately enrich each other," Van Rijs added. 

A vivid palette of materials becomes progressively cleaner and lighter as it ascends the building, according to the office, this creates an atmospheric journey from earth to sky. 

On the ground and first floors, the walls are clad with a 3D-printed material made from recycled drinks cartons, developed in partnership with Amsterdam-based Aectual, which gives an earthy colour and a fluted texture to the walls. 

Meanwhile the floors are made from Duracryl’s Durabella, a sustainable terrazzo flooring made with renewable resources. On the level above, the walls and floors are finished with wood, while on the third floor, wood floors are complemented with eco-friendly paint. 

The fourth floor features a peachy orange gradient on its walls, which draw attention upwards to the vaulted ceilings of the original building.

"This gradual vertical change culminates in the top two floors. The walls of the sixth transition from gold to blue, leading into the sky-blue floor, finishes, and ceiling of the Rietveld pavilion," said the firm. 

"Here, the essence of this piece of modernist history is faithfully preserved, with refined finishes such as the carpet and curtains helping to make it an exquisite space for events such as galas and fashion shows – just as it was almost 100 years ago," the firm added.

"The glass walls of Rietveld’s design give panoramic views over the rooftops of Amsterdam, completing the feeling of expansive lightness and giving space for visitors to reflect on the future to come," the office concluded.

NIO House Amsterdam is the third and – as the electric car manufacturer’s European flagship – the largest NIO House designed by MVRDV. It follows NIO House Chongqing, which opened in 2019 and NIO House Rotterdam, which opened in 2023 as NIO’s first location in the Netherlands.

Ground floor plan (showroom)

First floor (cafe)

Second floor (Forum and Joy Camp)

Third floor (Co-working)

Fourth floor (Exhibition space)

Sixth floor (Event space)

Rietveld rooftop pavilion (Event space)

Sections

MVRDV designs tribune-like affordable housing with interconnected green spaces in Eindhoven. In addition, the firm unveiled plans for Gate M West Bund Dream Center in Shanghai. MVRDV also revealed proposal for the new Tianfu Software Park featuring a 150-metre tower with a full-height green atrium. 

Project facts

Project Name: NIO House Amsterdam 

Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Year: 2022–2024 

Client: NIO

Architect: MVRDV

Founding Partner in charge: Jacob van Rijs

Partner: Fokke Moerel

Design Team: Aser Giménez Ortega, María López Calleja, Elien Deceuninck, Egle Jacinaviciute, Xiaoyi Qin, Jiameng Li, Martyna Maciacszek, Monica di Salvo, Basak Gunalp, Sanel Beciri, Turker Naci Saylan, Giovanni Nardi, Jeremy de Hoop, Aleksandra Sliwinska, Samuel Delgado, Thiago Maso, Ela Kara.

Strategy and Development: Sruti Thakrar

Copyright: MVRDV Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries

Partners

Project management: Turner & Townsend 

Engineering: ABT

General contractor: ToBuild

Technical installations: WeMaintain

Interior installations: DeHaas Interior 

Partner Construction management: Original Spaces

3D Printing: Aectual

Terrazzo Flooring: Duracryl

All images © Ossip van Duivenbode.

All drawings © MVRDV. 

> via MVRDV 

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