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HEADQUARTERS GASUNIE
ALBERTS & VAN HUUT, 1988-1994, Concourslaan 17, Groningen
After the success of their organic head office for the NMB Bank in Amsterdam (D51) the firm of Alberts & Van Huut won a limited competition for a second prestigious building, this time for the local gas company Gasunie. The design consists of a 16-storey office section, a mountain of brick that seems to have sprouted from the amoebic copper-roofed basement of general facilities. A glazed well thrusts up through all storeys to ‘impart a feeling of oneness’. A remarkable detail is that the facade of the high-rise portion is loadbearing. A steel structure on the third floor serves to transfer its line of load to concrete columns issuing from the basement.