ARCHITECTUURGIDS.NL / ARCHITECTUREGUIDE.NL

SHOPPING CENTRE DE KOLK

VAN BERKEL & BOS, 1991-1996, Nieuwendijk 162/Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, Amsterdam

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Van Berkel & Bos
Ben van Berkel
Caroline Bos

BUILDING TYPE:
Shops

After a lengthy planning procedure the young architect Van Berkel was approached to give shape to the devilishly intricate programme of De Kolk at a historically and morphologically sensitive location. Into the finely meshed pattern of streets and alleyways he inserted a shopping mail, commercial and residential space, a hotel and a multi-storey car park. Van Berkel refrained from trying to pull together the complex morphology of lines shooting every which way in the 'urban force field'. All the same, he has achieved a real sense of harmony, in both material (tinted glass, brick and untreated wood) and form (a close-knit collage of oblique planes).