Dutch firm Benthem Crouwel Architects have transformed an office building in Amsterdam into the most sustainable renovated property in the Netherlands. Now the new head office for the Dutch Charity Lotteries, the building received BREEAM Outstanding rating for its sustainable design. The adaptive reuse features a series of slender, tree-shaped columns that support an iconic roof with nearly 7,000 polished aluminum leaves.
As the team states, the 600 employees of the Charity Lotteries had been scattered among different locations for years, and the client wanted to give them a collective home. The project needed to be a highly sustainable building, an important condition for this company that has sustainability as one of its core values. The social ambitions and idealism of the Charity Lotteries are now made visible in their new office building. It is a transparent, accessible building that serves the employees and the surrounding neighborhood.
The new roof acts like a grand gesture towards the surrounding area and is visible from both the high-rises of the nearby business district and from the houses in the neighborhood. In the roof, 949 solar panels provide energy, while the structure also collects rainwater to irrigate the roof gardens and supply both the sprinkler and flushing systems with water. The new housing for the Charity Lotteries became not just an energy neutral, but an energy positive building. Materials from the demolished parts of the old building have been reused, and all newly used materials have been tested for sustainability so they can be re-purposed in the future if necessary. With the BREEAM Outstanding rating, the final score was 92,61%, with 85% being the minimal score to receive this rating.
