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De Zwarte Hond designs flexible timber office park in Amsterdam

2023-06-22T11:30:00-04:00

De Zwarte Hond has designed a timber office building for Dutch energy company Alliander. Located on the Noordzeeweg in Amsterdam Westpoort, the new offices are described as circular and flexible, consisting of workshops, warehouses, test facilities, and educational and park buildings.

Image: Jaques Tillmans Foto Focus / De Zwarte Hond

Sustainability guided the design of the roughly 226,042-square-foot complex, which resulted in high flexibility, scalability, and modularity. Materials such as wood were used as much as possible, and harmful substances like glue, PU foam or sealant were minimized. The parking building’s detached set-up allows it to grow or shrink. In addition, the structure’s façades are made of weather-resistant Corten steel.

Image: Scagliola Brakkee / De Zwarte Hond

The office is gas-free and energy neutral due to approximately 37 square feet of solar panels and thermal energy storage. Its use of timber allowed the project to store 560 tons of carbon dioxide. Much con...

Manuel Herz Architect's rural hospital expansion in Senegal

2018-06-05T16:12:00-04:00

The Switzerland-based firm Manuel Herz Architect has been selected to design an important new expansion for a rural hospital in the Tambacounda region of Senegal. Conceived and funded by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and Le Korsa, the facility's expansion will help alleviate a current overcrowding issue.

Connection between the existing buildings and the new extension. Image by Play-Time, © Manuel Herz Architects.

The hospital currently serves 20,000 patients per year from the surrounding area and is in desperate need of more space to accommodate these numbers.

View of the corridor and the brick screen. Image by Play-Time, © Manuel Herz Architects.

Manuel Herz’s design aims to sensitively address the brief with a focus on greater coherence and comfort within the space. The design consists of a winding curvilinear building with lattice brickwork to help alleviate the region's extreme temperatures.

Take a look at Rafael Viñoly's new circular bridge in Uruguay

2016-01-21T13:13:00-05:00

Why build a straightforward bridge for an unremarkable sum when the same bridge could be built as a circle for vast amounts of money? A new bridge spanning (or circumnavigating) Laguna Garzón, a coastal lagoon in southeastern Uruguay, poses just that question. [...] At a glance, it’s the sort of ridiculousness that you might expect of a bridge in London. In fact, there’s a perfectly good functional explanation for it.

"The concept of the Puente Laguna Garzón was to transform a traditional vehicular crossing into an event that reduces the speed of the cars, to provide an opportunity to enjoy panoramic views of an amazing landscape and at the same time create a pedestrian place in the center," the architect explained the unusual bridge concept.

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