ARCHITECTUURGIDS.NL / ARCHITECTUREGUIDE.NL

GLASSHOUSE HORTUS BOTANICUS

ZWARTS & JANSMA, 1990-1993, Plantage Middenlaan 2a, Amsterdam

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Zwarts & Jansma

ORIGINAL DESIGN:
Johan van der Meij

DESIGN ENGINEER:
ABT

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Moshé Zwarts
Rein Jansma

BUILDING TYPE:
Leisure facilities

STATE:
J.M. van der Mey (oorspr. ontw. 1912)

The Botanical Gardens in Amsterdam contain buildings from various periods, including a laboratory block from 1912 by Johan van der Mey, who actually only designed the facade. When the gardens were privatized, the existing buildings were restored and a new glasshouse built of 1500 square metres in three zones each with its own climate: tropical, subtropical and desert. The building resorts to standard elements deriving from glasshouse construction, though the supporting structure is a new departure. A tension network of cables acts on steel compression bars along four axes in eight directions.