Select Works of Wiel Arets Architects

Wiel Arets Architects, Netherlands

De Nieuwe Liefde

De Nieuwe Liefde (“The New Love”) is a theatre and community center located in a monumental white building on Amsterdam’s Da Costakade, originally constructed in 1904 as storage space for a local wine company.  After falling into disrepair, and in accordance with the last tenants leaving the property in 2007, the De Nieuwe Liefde was completely rebuilt and given its current name. The reconstruction process transformed the existing building into a series of new spaces, including a main hall with seating for 230 people, a conference room with space for 60, a choir space for 50, a library, a separate restaurant-café, and a grand foyer that decompresses into a central circulation void. 

Prior to the renovation, the building retained many of its original Neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau features. Therefore, the design approach was to use these assets, as well as the existing main staircase and extensive stained glass windows throughout. The depth of the building totals about 30 meters, reflecting its former use as a wine storage space. This depth, alongside numerous renovations by successive owners, created a series of oddly divided spaces and rooms, with few receiving natural light.

In order to introduce vast amounts of natural light, an expansive skylight was created above the central circulation void, allowing daylight to pour into the building and flood all principal spaces. The central circulation void spans from the front to the back façade. It is composed of a crisscross of steps and ramps that challenge the traditional idea of “floors” and instead allow concise routing and direct visual connections to all important spaces. In the café, large skylights and a wall of ivy enliven an otherwise enclosed space.

UBU

The UBU is a library located on the campus of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Comparable to a data recorder, it is more than a place where people can consult books; it is a place where they can work in a concentrated fashion, as well as meet other people without needing any stimulation other than the atmosphere that the building radiates. 

The book depots, which seem to float, divide the space into zones that are interconnected by stairs and slopes, composed of black, figured concrete with a partly double-glazed façade onto which a silk-screened figurative pattern has been applied. This feature lets natural light into the building. The glass façade also encloses the car parking area like a smooth skin, thereby making it an integral part of the complex.

Based on the idea that silent communication is important in a building where there is hardly any talking, the atmosphere is determined with an emphasis on creating a sense of security. That was essential for the choice of a black interior. A light, shiny floor provides enough reflection of natural or artificial light to illuminate some of the 42 million books placed on open shelves, while the long, white tables make it possible to read a book or to consult electronic information without too much effort. The individual workplace area with full facilities is a key element to the design, and is positioned in such a way that the user’s choice of a workplace also determines the degree of communication with other users.

Absorption versus confrontation, working in a concentrated way versus communication, is the main premise in this library where the infrastructure has more than one function. The route is also programmed by it, since the bar, lounge, reception corner, auditorium, and desks are all fitted with red rubber. Other spaces, such as shops, add an extra dimension to the route, thereby breaking down the mono-functionality of the library.

B Tower

The B Tower is located in the center of Rotterdam, immediately adjacent to the Bijenkorf department store designed by Marcel Breuer in the late 1950s. Because of its commercial context, the site below Bijenkorf’s roofline is to be fully occupied, while above it, just 30 percent of the lot toward the sunken shopping mall, Beurstraverse, has been released to build a high-rise tower. In order to avoid splitting the project into a basement and a tower, the design stacks three volumes of similar height. The ground level contains a clothing store, The Sting, and a car parking facility; the two upper levels contain apartments. 

Accordingly, the entrance to the store faces the pedestrian precinct, whereas the private and service parts of the building can be accessed from the side road. The minimized core of the high-rise can access up to six apartments per floor so as to keep up with changing market demands. The shifting of volumes in and out of alignment defines two areas of different depth in relation to the central circulation, resulting in two principal layouts for the apartments. In the less-deep ones, the bathroom gives a view of the city. 

Analogous to Breuer’s building, the façade is not related to the separate levels but to the respective volumes. The skin, which consists of alternating glazed and aluminum panels, is an extrusion of the bottom plan. A series of cantilevered balconies clustered in a few lines takes care of the larger scale.

The entire project was designed and tested in 3D using Vectorworks software, which proved itself as the only way to verify the feasibility of such a complex, spatial puzzle. It is thanks to the success of this stacked housing morphology that the project has managed to combine high density and quality of life with a unique identity of each property, thus achieving the firm’s true ecological goals.

Allianz Suisse Headquarters

Currently under construction, the new Allianz Suisse Headquarters complex consists of a high-rise, as well as a five-story, mixed-use building. It defines the edges of the block within the contours defined by an urban plan set by Vittorio Lampugnani. Both buildings are connected to each other through a series of bridges, enabling the various office, dining, and retail facilities to interact effortlessly.

Literally taking the concept of “interiority,” the buildings produce a spatial, programmatic, and atmospheric variety within. The pure layering of floors is broken through a series of voids that link individual floors both visually and physically. These voids create shortcuts between floors using open stairways, producing new and unexpected visual and spatial relations. Because these voids were planned as an option in the structure, the buildings become more adaptable to individual use, and create the possibility of a more vertical rental arrangement for the respective tenants. 

At the same time, the diversity enables different atmospheres within a homogeneous frame. The lobby, similar to a hotel reception area, can be used for different activities. It could, for instance, become a foyer for a lecture hosted by the local university and held in the auditorium. A multitude of conditions were developed that allow flexible working and lounge areas to be situated next to individual workstations for informal working. 

Structural glazing, partially printed using silkscreen techniques, envelops both buildings. A silver curtain acts as sun protection within the façade void by means of a central control; the building envelope can thus react to changing light conditions. Structural elements were, when possible, integrated into other building components to secure a high grade of flexibility in support-free areas.

Originally appeared in Modus News 2