Tallest timber tower to be built in amsterdam

Date
14 July 2016

HAUT, the 21-storey wooden residential building by the Dutch River Amstel, is a serious contender to become the tallest timber tower in the world. The municipality of Amsterdam has selected Team V Architecture with Lingotto, Nicole Maarsen, ARUP and brand partner NLE to develop this remarkable high-rise structure. Construction work is expected to start in the second half of 2017. HAUT promises to be a prototype of building in an innovative, sustainable and environmentally-friendly manner.

The use of timber in high-rise buildings is one of the most keenly discussed innovations in the construction industry worldwide. It represents an important step towards the carbon-neutral city: more than three million kilos of CO2 will be stored in the cross laminated timber used to build HAUT. Apart from the innovative use of wood in the construction, the building will also be provided with energy-generating facades and the wastewater it produces will be collected and purified. As a result, the design is targeting for a BREEAM Outstanding rating, the highest possible sustainability grade.

Haute architecture

HAUT stands for ‘haute couture’: tailor-made architecture. The design offers buyers extensive freedom of choice in the size of their apartment, the number of floors, the lay-out and the positioning of double height spaces, outdoor loggia’s and balconies. The façade is characterized by strong, clear lines of light grey floor bands and tall windows, with an apparently random pattern of cantilevering balconies. The wooden ceilings underneath the balconies and the pronounced projections at the sharp building corner facing the River Amstel make HAUT’s architecture strikingly distinctive.

HAUT’s Hortus

The triangular base of the building includes a spectacular public urban winter garden, HAUT’s Hortus. Residents of the neighbourhood can grow their own vegetables, relax and meet each other. The Hortus forms an extension of the adjoining Somerlust Park and includes the Innovation Lab, a demonstration centre where the latest innovations in the fields of nutrition, energy and construction are presented. The lab will be arranged by brand partner NLE (Netherlands Energy Company).

Amstelkwartier

HAUT will be built in Amstelkwartier, a new residential neighbourhood in Amsterdam, situated on the River Amstel between Oud-Zuid (Old South) and Watergraafsmeer. It will contain some 4,000 residential units, together with shopping facilities and small business premises. Approximately 1,000 dwelling units have already been completed, and the first primary school has been opened. Somerlust, the new park on the Amstel, is also already open to the public.

Building specifications

Residential tower of 73 m high, with approximately 55 apartments of different sizes. A public plinth with urban winter garden (about 1,100 m2 gross floor area), cycle storage space and underground car park (about 2,800 m2). Total gross floor area about 14,500 m2.

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