Views play lead role at Cruquius 1.3 in Amsterdam

The Cruquius area will change in the coming years from an industrial area to a living/working area. Conveniently located, within the A10 Ring Road, close to urban amenities, but also beautiful on the water of the Entrepothaven, the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal and the Nieuwe Vaart. The architect (Arons and Gelauff Architects) took advantage of the location to have the sturdily designed homes look out onto the water and the quay. In the four imposing L-shaped buildings, the view clearly plays the leading role.

The incidence of light through the high windows, the lightness of the architecture and the calm color scheme of the buildings fit perfectly with the characteristic Entrepothaven. Jappe Dekker, head of business market sales at Schipper Kozijnen, also knows this. "We have successfully completed Cruquius 1.1 and 1.2 and have translated this into Cruquius 1.3. Here we supply and install over 1,500 aluminum window frames in the color champagne."

Concealed fittings 

For the more than 11,000 m2 of window frames, Schipper Kozijnen works with regular partner SIEGENIA for the fittings. "Like no other, SIEGENIA thinks carefully about project-specific solutions. From an enormous amount of knowledge and expertise, they give well thought-out advice in the field of fittings, ventilation and building technology." Dekker continues: "At Cruquius we are dealing with tall windows with considerable weight. In addition, aesthetics play an important role and you're also dealing with a building on the water. All reasons why SIEGENIA advised us to choose concealed fittings. Because of the beautiful view and the high level of finishing, concealed fittings offer the solution. The hinges are not in sight and allow for a tighter interior finish by Bouwbedrijf M.J. de Nijs en Zonen. But as mentioned, the choice is not purely aesthetic: the hidden hardware offers higher value performance in air- and wind-water tightness. On the waterfront that's nice!"

Tilt-by-turn

In addition to the choice of concealed fittings, the tilt-for-turn function was also deliberately chosen. Dekker explains: "Research shows that people use the tilt position the most, so it's actually quite unusual that you first have to go past the turn position to get to the tilt. Especially with this kind of large window (2.4 meters high) and in a location with a considerable wind load, the choice was quickly made. From a safety standpoint, a locking position is included in the hardware, so the window can only be used in the tilt position. When you do want to use the pivot function, the opening angle is greater than 90 degrees. Another advantage for the residents because the windows can open much further that way."

Project-specific decorative sleeve

Not only SIEGENIA, but also Schipper Kozijnen makes an important contribution in terms of guidance and advice. "We think along in the design and devise a delivery procedure and construction routing," he says. Dekker is referring, among other things, to the robust decorative sleeve attached to the fifth and sixth floor window frames. "Together with the architect and the contractor, we attached decorative sleeves to the window frames in which 600 integrated solar screens are incorporated. Aesthetically, of course, many times nicer than if you mounted the sun screens afterwards." Because the decorative tubes - with a total weight of 40,000 kg - are attached to the frame and the prefabricated frames themselves are also of considerable size, Schipper Kozijnen developed a special lifting aid. "This way, the prefabricated window frames, which were driven to the construction site by Koopman Transport using a special flatbed trailer, could be lifted upwards in a careful manner. All in all, quite a bit of coordination with all parties involved, but it went extremely smoothly." Dekker concludes, "It makes me proud that we tackled the entire project with client, contractor and all parties involved as a team. With once again a beautiful Cruquius as the end result."