Tripolis Park: reclining skyscraper embraces monumental towers

Amsterdam's Zuidas has gained another striking object. Two of the three monumental towers of the former Tripolis complex have been renovated and partially wrapped in a horizontal skyscraper parallel to the A10 motorway. A clever piece of craftsmanship by Rollecate, who managed to effectively connect old and new. The envisioned image by Winy Maas of architect firm MVRDV of a curtain wall that cleaves the window frames is done full justice. And on the A10 side, 'The Window' even provides a view of the old building from the 1990s that acquired municipal monument status in 2019.

The reclining skyscraper embraces and protects, as it were, the iconic towers. "The design of a long expansive wall was not chosen by chance," says Erik Beekman, Commercial Technical Advisor at Rollecate. "All along the Zuidas you see the height of the buildings sloping down. Because of Schiphol, the height is limited. To make such a development commercially interesting, it is important to create as much floor space as possible. So if you can't do it in height, you will have to do it in width. And that's what happened here." In total, some 45,000 m2 of floor space is available in the buildings in which start-ups, scale-ups and large companies have been holding offices since 2023.

Pre-production

Rollecate has been involved in the plans from the very beginning through general contractor G&S Construction. "We basically witnessed the entire development. Initially, the reclining skyscraper was even on a completely different site. The current location parallel to the A10 has therefore been a good choice," Erik believes. "The 12-story new building makes the area behind it soundproof and has transformed it into an ideal residential area for living, recreation and relaxation." However, this has involved quite an intensive design and development process. The redevelopment started on Feb. 17, 2020, and has taken about 3.5 years. "The new building partly leans on a parking garage and is built entirely of a steel structure.   

The building was "stiffened" with concrete quite late, which meant that we could not start assembling the façade elements until the building was high. Because we can't produce nearly as fast as assembly, that meant we had to pre-produce quite a few elements. The logistics had to be right then, because the elements that were produced first were assembled last."

1,100 facade elements and more

Rollecate sealed the elongated skyscraper with 1,100 Schüco facade elements fitted with triple glazing. "Altogether accounting for some 13,110 m2, of which 2,235 m2 were segmented with standard widths of 3,600 mm and 1,800 mm respectively. For the atrium, on the A10 also known as The Window, we realized 3,543 m2 of Schüco double-glazed curtain walls equipped with 22 electric ventilation windows," Erik lists. And that was not all, as Rollecate also made a significant contribution to the old building. "The two towers T 200 and T 300 were first completely stripped down to the concrete structure and then fitted with a new exterior façade of wood containing aluminum Schüco AWS 70 frames fitted with triple glazing. We ensured a frame-less connection using 3D anchoring. This enabled us to adjust the 4,536 m2 of window frames exactly to size, resulting in a beautifully sleek facade appearance." Rollecate also had to deal with a twist in sizing with the window frames. "Each floor cantilevers out 5 centimeters, a difference that is accommodated in the window frames. That results in different puimats on each floor. Combined with a range of colors (22 pieces in total, ed.) meant that of the 1,622 window frames, nowhere did we have a series larger than two. The building was divided vertically by color, while we assembled horizontally. That didn't make the logistics any easier, either."

Unique detailing

The architect's idea was to have the curtain wall of the new building run optically right through the window frames of the old building. "The challenge here was of course to make all this wind and watertight," says Erik. "Each building has its own foundation, where we also had to take into account all the settlement differences. The steel structure of the new building behaves differently from the structure of the existing towers. Dilatations were inevitable, but were not allowed to stand out as such. The challenge was to be able to absorb the movements well without you seeing the sliding parts. And all this had to be wind and watertight. In short, a complex puzzle. The architect was willing to think along with us, but stuck to the lines. We carefully went through all the details and finally arrived at a suitable solution to everyone's wishes, which was also feasible. For example, the curtain wall is suspended from the steel structure of the new building and is only anchored horizontally to the old building by the wind load. Thus, settlements can be absorbed vertically. This also applies to the points where the curtain wall connects to the roof of the existing towers. For the intended image, we divided the window frames. They are in fact two window frames, which look like one continuous frame between inside and outside."

Rollecate also supplied 70 frames with shadowbox panel and sheet metal cuff as cladding for the floor edge and 453 m2 of frames in the cupolas on the roof of the towers, for which Aldowa provided the cladding. Rollecate also supplied the profiled steel facades at the two entrances to the towers. Nevertheless, in principle the buildings are accessed via the atrium. This is where the elevators and walkways are located for an optimal connection between old and new buildings over all floors. The atrium has a somewhat futuristic appearance with lots of glass, mirrors and metal panels for the walls and ceilings by Panelen Holland and Sorba. It contrasts nicely with the classic wooden cladding of the old building. Completed in late 2023, Tripolis-Park is buzzing like never before. Only the last tower T 100 remains to be redeveloped. "We hope we will be awarded that contract as well," Erik says in conclusion.

Construction Info

Tripolis Park, Amsterdam 

Client: 

Flow Real Estate

Architect: 

MVRDV

Contractor:
G&S Construction

Façade builder:
Rollecate

System provider:
Schüco Netherlands

Supplier panels:
Panels Holland

Cladding: 
Aldowa