Sitting on the dock of the bay: Kraanspooroffice building by OTH

Otis Redding might have had something else in mind when he was singing "Sitting at the dock of the bay", one of his trademark songs, but certainly Trude Hooykaas, the architect that leads OTH, matched the song perfectly, when she designed Kraanspooroffice building to house her company's offices on a disused colossal crane track at the north end of Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is currently undergoing a post-industrial renewal. So it should be of no surprise using an older building to make a new one. But a crane track? Trude Hooykaas discovered this huge concrete structure at one of her bicycle rides along northern Amsterdam, when she was searching for a place to make the new headquarters for her company. The area used to be a shipyard, abandoned, but with all the signs of its former industrial glory present. It was easy for her to imagine a huge transparent box sitting on top of the track, floating above the sea.

Of course the difficulties were immense: the structure was already on the demolition list, the zoning requirements were not allowing offices at the area, developers were reluctant to invest in her vision. Luckily she persevered and, one by one, all obstacles were put aside, allowing her and her office to give us this amazing glass box emerging from the waters of the North Sea. A three-floor building, a metallic skeleton clad with double glazing and motorized glass slats for shading and controlling the climate inside along with full length wooden-framed windows. So, except from natural ventilation, the whole system gives the people working here the feeling they are travelling at sea, on a huge futuristic ship.

Using the four original stairwells as entrances, with new staircases and panoramic glass lifts was another master stroke, as well as using the old concrete catwalks as fire escapes: the former crane track was not only serving as support, it became really alive as well, fitting perfectly in with the new use. The glass box hangs asymmetrically over one side towards the water, making the feeling of floating above the waters even more intense.

The new building is raised three meters from the concrete skeleton of the track, supported by slender steel columns, seemingly fragile and hovering like a space ship, effect even more punctuated at night, when it is illuminated. The vision of it against a sunset making the waters look golden while sun drifts towards the waves must be thrilling.

The concrete wharf is 270 m in length ("270m of concrete silence" as said by Trude Hooykaas), 13.5 m high and 8.5 m. deep. It was built in 1952 and had two huge cranes until 1999, when they were dismantled. The restoration started in 1997: the building begun in 2006 and was completed in November 2007. The architect's vision of "a dawning sun on the banks of a golden coast", is finally realised, and it is shared with the people working there or visiting this unique building.


Originally posted at 2Modern Talk on July 5th 2008